My wife and I went for a walk along the lagoon that seperates Leucadia from Carlsbad, on the Carlsbad side this morning. We used to walk and ride bikes along the lagoon before there was much development to its north so have seen it change over nearly 40 years. This morning's walk was just another step in the changes as the many Phoenix canariansis that naturalized along the lagoon's shoreline showed the devastation from the South American Palm Weevil.

There are still some young CIDP's but most of the older large ones are now stumps or transitioning to becoming stumps. It is sad to see but I decided to capture it and share it in some photos. The progression of the SAPW....

Along the trail...

...further west along the trail.

Tough to see Tracy.. The unfortunate thing to me about the weevils love of canariensis, is that there are so many of them and that they are generally so large. I’m convinced that because of their sheer size they simply become weevil nurseries for months on end. Too big to deal with, especially if they’re on public land. So they just sit and infect everything around them. Pretty discouraging.

5 hours ago, quaman58 said:

Tough to see Tracy.. The unfortunate thing to me about the weevils love of canariensis, is that there are so many of them and that they are generally so large. I’m convinced that because of their sheer size they simply become weevil nurseries for months on end. Too big to deal with, especially if they’re on public land. So they just sit and infect everything around them. Pretty discouraging.

That was my discussion with my wife on the walk today. Especially considering that my Leucadia home is on the southwest side of the lagoon about a half mile from it and my Carlsbad garden is about 3/4 of a mile north of the lagoon. Just a nursery to propogate weevils to attack my gardens.

The march of the weevil has entered San Clemente, and the devastation is imminent

🥶😢😱

Oh man , that is terrible. We were in San Diego over Mothers Day and I saw a few naturalized specimens along the freeway that had been infested . Hard to look at. Harry

thanks for sharing tracy. just thinking into the future, i surmise that it will eventually make its way up to santa clarita and then north through castaic although there are not many cidp's around. more washies than anything else. at that point there is the grapevine which i think would be a hardstop for it northwards but they can obviously circumvent through oxnard to carpenteria and up the coast.

its very disheartening to see these old and majestic cidp's going under. wondering how your garden is holding up or rather how is your fight against these pests in your garden. i imagine they are just flying around on a regular basis now where you are at and have completely domesticated themselves.

cheers

tin

They are so thick out here. Its gotten so bad that my 7 year old daughter points them out and yells "WEEVIL KILL" when we're driving. My 14 year old son has gotten good at whacking them out of the air with a baseball bat. I dont know what lures them in but every evening I get a few that buzz under my patio cover and bounce off my sliding door.

I was trimming a couple of old fronds off my Chrysalidocarpus decaryi this evening and just as one came down to the pavers a weevil appeared. It seemed to come out of the removed leaf base which came with a dead inflorescence. I didn't see it emerge but it was under the leafbase immediately as it came down. I haven't heard of them going after any Chrysalidocarpus.

I had just removed the dead boot from my adjacent Chrysalidocarpus decipiens. It is a bit worrisome. Smashed the weevil immediately since I don't want it to escape.

37 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Body shape = long / narrow, and oval shaped, + long antennae, + Leg that looks like it has bristles / hairs on it ( Easy to see Via the shadow cast, at roughly the 6:30 position in the shot ) + translucent Elytra / *Tegmina < * specific to Cockroaches > ..The scientific term for the harder, outer / anterior wings of various insect groups, inc Beetles and Cockroaches = Subfamily Blattinae or Ectobiidae member Cockroach sp.

A quickie in Roach Anatomy / Morphology:



Kind of creepy ( ...for those folks who are creeped out by them at least ) ....but, Not SAPW.

Might be the first time someone’s relived to see a cockroach!

10 minutes ago, quaman58 said:

Might be the first time someone’s relived to see a cockroach!

Only problem is ….they are never alone! Harry

Over time they will kill their entire food source, so what happens then? adaptation to other palms, or die off in the area? If its the latter there may come a day when the palms are all gone(😭) and then the weevil after, then replanting can start. That may be the best outcome unless a predator species is vaible to introduce and keep the numbers down. That whole situation sucks.

9 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Body shape = long / narrow, and oval shaped, + long antennae, + Leg that looks like it has bristles / hairs on it ( Easy to see Via the shadow cast, at roughly the 6:30 position in the shot ) + translucent Elytra / *Tegmina < * specific to Cockroaches > ..The scientific term for the harder, outer / anterior wings of various insect groups, inc Beetles and Cockroaches = Subfamily Blattinae or Ectobiidae member Cockroach sp.

A quickie in Roach Anatomy / Morphology:



Kind of creepy ( ...for those folks who are creeped out by them at least ) ....but, Not SAPW.

Thank you for the correct id Nathan. I went to the smashing mode immediately on sight so didn't examine it before damaging the evidence. I am both relieved and happy that I was wrong in my identification.