South American Palm Weevil takes down an old South American genus palm

[Tracy]

One of our friends in the neighborhood had a large Butia in his garden which I photographed from a side street to his yard and posted a couple of times on this website.  We see the South American Palm weevil taking down plenty of Canary Island Date Palms along with a few other species, but not nearly as frequently do they seem to attack the other species from South America.  It is a big deal when we see a Jubea succomb to them, and given the number of Jubea's in my area, it was unusual to see this one get hit.  When I saw it was headless a couple of weeks ago, I knew I wanted to ask the neighbor the next time I saw him.  This morning I finally got the opportunity to ask as we crossed paths walking our dogs.  He moved into the house a little less than 50 years ago, and the palm was large back at that time he told me.  He was having it trimmed, when his landscaper called him out to give him the bad news.  While it wasn't showing the classic signs of a palm weevil attack on a CIDP yet, it was completely infested in the crown.  He was convinced to leave a portion of the trunk after removal of the crown and a significant amount of the top of the trunk.  He is contemplating having the trunk carved since it was part of their backyard life all these years.  I encouraged him to have it carved and will share photos if he does.

Before some of my palms got large, I could see his house from my back deck as I looked up the hill to the east.  His neighbor's tall Canary Island Date Palm is long since gone.  It is sad to see so many beautiful palms die.  I know we will lose more, I just hope that their diet remains focused on CIDP and the other genra remain the exceptions.  The photo from a few years ago I have posted doesn't show the base of the palm which was obscured by the shrubs along the sidestreet, but it was one of the tallest Butia's I personally have seen in Southern California.

 

 

[Harry’s Palms]

So sad to see this. Harry

[quaman58]

Pretty discouraging Tracy. I’ve taken to trying pretreat some of the palms in the yard, emphasizing species that I know have been taken down by SAPW. Pritchardia, Bismarkia, Sabal & Butia in particular. It’s strange they seem to have a rather specific preference for certain palms. Canariensis are like a magnet, but I’ve not seen any affected true date palms (dactylifera). Weird, go figure. Like you said, a real shame to have such wonderful old specimens taken down.

[Phoenikakias]

8 hours ago, quaman58 said:

Pretty discouraging Tracy. I’ve taken to trying pretreat some of the palms in the yard, emphasizing species that I know have been taken down by SAPW. Pritchardia, Bismarkia, Sabal & Butia in particular. It’s strange they seem to have a rather specific preference for certain palms. Canariensis are like a magnet, but I’ve not seen any affected true date palms (dactylifera). Weird, go figure. Like you said, a real shame to have such wonderful old specimens taken down.

I see that this kind of weevil, has same preferences with rpw despite the different origin. Actually not only same but identical.  Why not  both spp sharing more similarities?

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

I see that this kind of weevil, has same preferences with rpw despite the different origin. Actually not only same but identical.  Why not  both spp sharing more similarities?

Good question.   Why did these weevils evolve continents apart and develop the same diet which includes palms both from each one's natural habitat as well as palms native to different parts of the world?  A different way to approach the question is what characteristics do these palms share that attracts boring weevils and provide a nurturing environment for their young larvae?  Is it relatively easy access to the meristem for the boring adults?

[Phoenikakias]

17 hours ago, Tracy said:

Good question.   Why did these weevils evolve continents apart and develop the same diet which includes palms both from each one's natural habitat as well as palms native to different parts of the world?  A different way to approach the question is what characteristics do these palms share that attracts boring weevils and provide a nurturing environment for their young larvae?  Is it relatively easy access to the meristem for the boring adults?

Fibers, and more fibers and even more fibers! One may wonder then, why Washies are not included in their regular menu. Perhaps latter have abilities of antixenosis and/or antibiosis. A relatively old Italian study had disclosed that Washingtonia filifera in particular displays such antibiotic behavior.