''Diaprepes abbreviatus'', also known as the diaprepes root weevil, citrus root weevil and sugarcane rootstock borer weevil, is a species of

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They belong to several families, ...

that is native to the Caribbean, where in Spanish it is colloquially called chichí. It has become an invasive pest in several locations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Range

Native range

It is an agricultural pest in several Caribbean countries.

Introduced range

In 1964 this weevil was accidentally introduced in the US, state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where it is at present a major pest of

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

. It was first discovered in southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 2005, where it is a pest of citrus,

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...

, and nursery stock.Jetter, K. M. and K. Godfrey. (2009)
Diaprepes root weevil, a new California pest, will raise costs for pest control and trigger quarantines.
''California Agriculture'' 63:3 121-6. In

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

it was found in the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. Th ...

in 2000, resulting in a 2001

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

, and then in 2009 around

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Another sighting in 2019 confirms that it is still in the area. Another sighting in Pearland, TX in June of 2022.

Hosts

Citrus,

, and nursery stock. It is also known to infest sugarcane,

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growin ...

-bearing crops such as

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es, and

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

Life history

The adult citrus root weevil is somewhat variable in size but just over in length on average. Its

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

are glossy black with large stripes of tiny yellowish-orange scales, and its head and legs are black. It has adhesive pads on its legs which confer the ability to adhere to very smooth surfaces. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

is a plump pale grub with a dark head, up to in length. A female weevil might lay 5,000 eggs, depositing them in clusters on leaves, then folding and gluing the leaves together. After a week the larvae emerge from the eggs, fall to the ground, and burrow down to the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

s of the host plant. They feed on the roots for several months, which is very damaging to the plant. While the adult weevil does feed on the foliage of the plant, it is the larvae that do the most damage. They often eat the

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

of the plant, which can kill it by depriving it of water and nutrients or by making it vulnerable to infection by

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, or water moulds such as ''

Phytophthora ''Phytophthora'' (from Greek (''phytón''), "plant" and (), "destruction"; "the plant-destroyer") is a genus of plant-damaging oomycetes (water molds), whose member species are capable of causing enormous economic losses on crops worldwide, a ...

''. The weevil spreads mainly by "hitchhiking" when infested plants, soil, and containers are moved from site to site.

Biocontrol

A variety of agents are being studied as possible biological pest controls for the weevil, including

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

parasitic wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causi ...

s, at least one

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsk ...

, '' Bacillus thuringiensis'', and a fungal adulticide. The nematode '' Steinernema riobravis'' is released in

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

water in infested fields in Florida to combat the pest.

References

External links

Diaprepes Damage and Management
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5271826 Entiminae Beetles described in 1758 Insects of the Caribbean Insects of the Dominican Republic Agricultural pest insects Citrus pests Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus