Results from the testing should be known in the next few months. The visit also provided an opportunity for Dr Marshall to test some new strain variants of the CRB biocontrol virus that could one day prove effective against the new beetle biotype. Now we implement robust sanitation plans to eliminate known and potential breeding sites, apply a biocontrol fungus to target breeding sites where removal is either difficult or not feasible, and actively monitor to the detect spread of the beetle into new areas.” “But, as the new beetle variant has not responded to the original biocontrol virus strains, this has limited the management options currently available. The beetle is killing palms, the damage is clearly visible and the coconut and palm oil industries there are very concerned.”ĭr Marshall says release of the original biocontrol virus weakened the pest and provided over 30 years of control and stopped further expansion of the beetle within the Pacific region. “It started near the capital Honiara and has spread quite a distance since its discovery. “The damage in Solomon Islands is really quite bad,” he says. The Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region and which is owned and governed by 26 country and territory members.ĭr Marshall recently helped identify the CRB-G in Solomon Islands and travelled there at the request of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) to train local biosecurity staff on management options. “We have been working on a proposal with the Pacific Community (SPC) and University of Guam to investigate potential new biocontrol options for the new biotype.” This meeting was partly in recognition of the 20 years we’ve been working on this problem, initially dealing with the ongoing management of the beetle but more recently, identification of the new biotype (known as the CRB-G) in Guam, and its spread further afield. “This beetle is a significant threat to many US territories in the Pacific including Guam and Hawaii as well as the much wider Pacific basin. “The US officials wanted to hear from us about future strategies to help manage the beetle,” Dr Marshall says. It is even more serious for smaller islands and atolls where the palm is still very much the ‘tree of life’ that people depend on for everything from building materials to food and cultural practices. For Pacific islands reliant on palms for economic growth, trade and social development the beetle is a very serious issue, he adds. Scientist Sean Marshall, an insect pathologist and molecular biologist at AgResearch says the coconut rhinoceros beetle attacks the developing fronds of coconut trees and kills them when the growing point is destroyed during feeding. However, in 2007 AgResearch scientists identified a new biotype (genetically different) of the beetle in Guam that was found to be resistant to all commonly used strains of the virus.ĭuring the 25 th International Congress of Entomology in Orlando, Florida officials from the United States Department of Agriculture met scientists from AgResearch - as well as from other science organisations around the Pacific - to investigate potential management options for the beetle which has a profound impact on the economies of many Pacific nations. The coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) has been present for a long time in many parts of the Pacific and has been kept largely under control through the use of a biocontrol virus.
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