Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:45:26.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Release and establishment of the baculovirus disease of Oryctes rhinoceros (L.) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Papua New Guinea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

B. D. Gorick
Affiliation:
Lowlands Agricultural Experiment Station, Keravat, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Oryctes rhinoceros (L.) is a major pest of coconut palms in Papua New Guinea but has a limited distribution within the country. Pre-release monitoring showed that no baculovirus disease was present in the country prior to its importation. A consignment of O. rhinoceros larvae infected with a baculovirus disease was imported into Papua New Guinea from Western Samoa in 1977. The virus proved highly infectious to both larvae and adults of the local population of O. rhinoceros. During 1978 and 1979, adults were perorally infected with the baculovirus and released at nine sites on Manus Island, four sites on New Ireland and twelve sites on the Gazelle Peninsula of East New Britain. The infected adults were active disseminators of the virus into the field population, and the virus became established at nearly all the release sites. The shortest time between virus release and recapture of newly infected adults from a release site was eight weeks. Three different examples indicated the virus spread at approximately 1 km/month. During a fourteen-week period in the early establishment phase, significantly more females than males were collected in traps but a significantly higher percentage of the males was infected.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bedford, G. O. (1973 a). Experiments with the virus Rhabdionvirus oryctes against the coconut palm rhinoceros beetles Oryctes rhinoceros and Scapanes australis grossepunctatus in New Guinea.—J. Invertebr. Pathol. 22, 7074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedford, G. O. (1973 b). Comparison of two attractant trap types for coconut rhinoceros beetles in New Guinea.—J. econ. Ent. 66, 12161217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedford, G. O. (1976 a). Observations on the biology and ecology of Oryctes rhinoceros and Scapanes australis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae): pests of coconut palms in Melanesia.—J. Aust. entomol. Soc. 15, 241251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedford, G. O. (1976 b). Use of a virus against the coconut palm rhinoceros beetle in Fiji.—PANS 22, 1125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catley, A. (1969). The coconut rhinoceros beetle Oryctes rhinoceros (L.) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae).—PANS 15, 1830.Google Scholar
Hammes, C. (1971). Multiplication et introduction d’un virus d’Oryctes rhinoceros à l’île Wallis.—C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris. (D) 273, 10481050.Google Scholar
Huger, A. M. (1966). A virus disease of the Indian rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros (Linnaeus), caused by a new type of insect virus, Rhabdionvirus oryctes gen. n. sp.n.—J. Invertebr. Pathol. 8, 3851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huger, A. M. (1968). The coelomic reproductive phase of Stictospora kurdistana and the effect of this eugregarine on larvae of Oryctes spp. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae).—pp. 3944 in UNDP (SF)/SPC Rhinoceros Beetle Project, Semi-Annual Report, 06 1968–11 1968. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia, 138 pp.Google Scholar
Huger, A. M. (1973). Grundlagen zur biologischen Bekämpfung des indischen Nashornkäfers, Oryctes rhinoceros (L.), mit Rhabdionvirus oryctes: Histopathologie der Virose bei Käfern.—Z. angew. Ent. 72, 309319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maddison, P. A., Beroza, M. & McGovern, T. P. (1973). Ethyl chrysanthemumate as an attractant for the coconut rhinoceros beetle.—J. econ. Ent. 66, 591592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marschall, K. J. (1970). Introduction of a new virus disease of the coconut rhinoceros beetle in Western Samoa.—Nature, Lond. 225, 288289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marschall, K. J. (in press). Biological control of rhinoceros beetles: experiences from Samoa.—Internat. Conf. Cocoa & Coconuts, Kuala Lumpur, 1978.Google Scholar
Monsarrat, P., Meynadier, G., Croizier, G. & Vago, C. (1973). Recherches cytopathologiques sur une maladie virale du coléoptère Oryctes rhinoceros L.—C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris. (D) 276, 20772080.Google Scholar
Monty, J. (1974). Teratological effects of the virus Rhabdionvirus oryctes on Oryctes rhinoceros (L.) (Coleoptera: Dynastidae).—Bull. ent. Res. 64, 633636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payne, C. C. (1974). The isolation and characterization of a virus from Oryctes rhinoceros.—Jnl gen. Virol. 25, 105116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, E. C. (1974). The epizootiology of two pathogens of the coconut palm rhinoceros beetle.—J. Invertebr. Pathol. 24, 8292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zelazny, B. (1973). Studies on Rhabdionvirus oryctes. II. Effect on adults of Oryctes rhinoceros.—J. Invertebr. Pathol. 22, 122126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelazny, B. (1976). Transmission of a baculovirus in populations of Oryctes rhinoceros.—J. Invertebr. Pathol. 27, 221227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelazny, B. (1977 a). Oryctes rhinoceros populations and behavior influenced by a baculovirus.—J. Invertebr. Pathol. 29, 210215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelazny, B. (1977 b). Occurrence of the baculovirus disease of the coconut palm rhinoceros beetle in the Philippines and in Indonesia.—Pl. Prot. Bull. F.A.O. 25, 7377.Google Scholar
Zelazny, B. (1978). Methods of inoculating and diagnosing the baculovirus disease of Oryctes rhinoceros.—Pl. Prot. Bull. F.A.O. 26, 163168.Google Scholar