Abstract:
The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) is the most
important pest of various palm species including coconut, date and oil palm in the world.
Rhynchophorus ferrugineus is a lethal pest of coconut in Terengganu and sago palm in
Sarawak, Malaysia. This study was intended to investigate the morphological, genetic
and biological studies of red palm weevil (RPW) which include of two Rhynchophorus
morphospecies – R. ferrugineus and R. vulneratus in Malaysia.
For morphological aspect, body length dan rostrum length of R. ferrugineus female were
significantly longer than males (p < 0.05). However, the elytra length, lengths of
foreleg, mid leg, hind leg and antennae length of R. vulneratus males were significantly
longer than females. Overall, all measurement of morphological characters R. vulneratus
males and females were significantly larger than R. ferrugineus adults (p < 0.05).
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis showed no differences on certain
microstructures between two Rhynchophorus morphospecies.
