Tatianaerhynchites aequatus (L.)
Taxonomic position: Insecta, Holometabola, Coleoptera, Rhynchitidae.
(Formerly placed in the family Curculionidae).
Common name: Apple Fruit Weevil.
Geographical distribution: Europe to Urals Mountains, Caucasus, Middle East and Iran
Morphology: The adults are about 2.5-4.0 mm in length, head and thorax black with a bronze hue, elytra hairy, brown-red, with a central dark stripe. Larva whitish, about 3 mm long, apodous, head brown.
Host plants: Many cultivated and wild Rosaceae., including Amygdalus Cerasus, Crataegus, Malus, Mespilus, Prunus, Pyrus, and Sorbus
Life history: This weevle occurs naturally on wild Rosaceae., especially onCrataegus. In early spring, as apple and cherry trees blossom and fruits begin to form, a pest female bores a small hole in a developing fruit, wherein it lays a single egg. At times several holes are dug but without oviposition. Young twigs are also attacked. Fecundity is about 20 eggs/female. The emerging larva feeds on the fruit, which then drops to the soil. The mature larva leaves the fruit and pupates in the soil, wherein it stays till early next spring, thus completing a single annual generation.
Economic importance: This pest attacks cherry and apple trees, and its damage may reach 25% of the blossoms of these crops.
Management
Monitoring: Pest presence and abundance, before damage becomes evident, can be assayed by beating branches over a plate in the spring. The finding of 3 adults/10 cherry branches would indicate the need for a chemical treatment. Attacks on green fruits can be seen as small holes or scars, and as twig shortening.
Chemical control: Abroad sprays with an organophosphate or with pyrethroids were effective. In Israel spinosad and a neonicotinoid controlled the pest.
Biological control: Several Braconidae and Eulophidae attack the pest in Turkey but their effect is not known.
References
Bolu, H. 2016. A New Host Tatianaerhynchites aequatus (L.) Coleoptera: Rhynchitidae] record for Bracon pectoralis Wesmael, Baryscapus bruchidii (Erdös), Eupelmus urozonus Dalman and Exopristus trigonomerus (Masi) from Turkey. Journal of the Entomological Research Society. 8: 51-62.
Bolu H., Legalov A.A. 2008. On the Curculionoidea (Coleoptera) fauna of almond (Amygdalus communis L.) orchards in south-eastern and Eastern Anatolia in Turkey. Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 8: 75 - 86.
Oppenheim, D., Reuveny, H. and Friedman, A.-L.-L . 2009. The apple fruit weevil, a new pest of deciduous Rosaceous fruit trees in Israel. Alon Ha’Notea 63: 1010-1016 (in Hebrew).
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