Life Cycle
This weevil usually infests palms younger than twelve years. While the adult causes some damage through feeding, it is the burrowing of the larva into the heart of the palm that can cause the greatest mortality of trees. The adult female lays approximately two hundred eggs on new growth in the crown of the palm, at the base of young leaves, or in open lesions on the plant. The egg hatches into a white, legless larva. The larva will feed on the soft fibres and terminal buds, tunnelling through the internal tissue of the tree for about a month. The larvae can occasionally grow to a length of six to seven inches. At pupation, the larva will leave the tree and form a cocoon built of dry palm fibers in leaf litter at the base of the tree. The total life cycle takes about 7–10 weeks.
Read more about this topic: Rhynchophorus Ferrugineus
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