Rhynchophorus phoenicis (Fabricius, 1801)

African palm weevil, Rhynchophorus phoenicis (Fabricius, 1801) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is distributed throughout the tropical regions of Africa where it is considered a pest due to its infestation of palm (Temitope, 2013) used to produce products of value. Cultural value of the palm weevil is evident due to larvae being harvested and used as food (Ekpo and Onigbinde, 2005). Furthermore, as presented in the book of Van Huis and Tomberlin (2017), methods have been developed for mass production of the beetle in culture. The African palm weevil has a complete life cycle with an egg, larva, pupa, and adult stage.

References

  • Ekpo, K. and Onigbinde, A., 2005. Nutritional potentials of the larva of Rhynchophorus phoenicis (F). Pakistan Journal of Nutrition 4: 287–290.
  • Temitope, O.O., 2013. Morphology and histology of the alimentary tract of adult palm weevil, Rhynchophorus phoenicis Fabricius (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Journal of Developmental Biology and Tissue Engineering 5: 13–17.
  • Van Huis, A. and Tomberlin, J.K. (eds.), 2017. Insects as food and feed: from production to consumption. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, the Netherlands
 
 

Classification

Rhynchophorus phoenicis
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Insecta
Order Coleoptera
Family Curculionidae
Genus Rhynchophorus
Species R. phoenicis
   
Author citation (Fabricius, 1801)
Common name african palm weevil