Association of the soil insect Scaptocoris minor Berg (Heteroptera, Cydnidae) with foci of bud-rot diseases of oil palm
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Association of the soil insect Scaptocoris minor Berg (Heteroptera, Cydnidae) with foci of bud-rot diseases of oil palm in eastern Ecuador Bernard Perthuis 1,2 Received: 4 June 2020 / Accepted: 23 October 2020 # African Association of Insect Scientists 2020
Abstract The bud-rot fatal diseases represent a threat to the economically important oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) through all Latin America. The etiology in Ecuador is still unknown. It is assumed that insect transmission of an unknown pathogen is possible but there is a lack of evidence for transmission by an aerial insect. Therefore it was interesting to dedicate some observations to the piercing-sucking insect living on the roots of the oil palm in Eastern Ecuador which had been identified as Scaptocoris sp. The observations took place in the highly affected plantation Palmeras del Ecuador, Sucumbíos province, in 1999. Collected specimens on the oil palm roots were identified as Scaptocoris minor Berg (Heteroptera, Cydnidae). S. minor presence on the roots of palms was more frequent inside the bud-rot foci than in less affected areas (borders of the foci and in younger plots without foci). It is important to consider S. minor as a potential vector of bud-rot diseases of the oil palm in Ecuador and it should be tested. Keywords Vector . pudrición del cogollo . PC . Amarelecimento fatal
Introduction Several fatal syndromes of bud-rot severely affect the cultures of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in South and Central America. De Franqueville (2003) wrote a synthesis dealing with this problem. The bud-rot syndromes have destroyed entire plantations in Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Suriname. Symptomatology varies a lot. These syndromes may be therefore the expressions of several diseases. Their names are: “pudrición del cogollo “or “PC “(bud-rot) in most spanish speaking countries, “PC típica “or “PCt “(typical bud-rot) and “PC diversa “or “PCd “(other bud-rot) in the plantation Palmeras del Ecuador (PDE) in Eastern Ecuador, “amarelecimento fatal” or “AF “(fatal yellowing) in Brazil, “spear rot “in Suriname. Sometimes two or more different syndromes are present in a plantation. There is always a variable amount of chlorosis of the young fronds and patches of wet necrosis at the base of the young fronds. The rot can
* Bernard Perthuis [email protected] 1
CIRAD, UMR AGAP, F-97387 Kourou, Guyane, France
2
AGAP, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France
spread rapidly downward to the young and immature soft tissues around the meristem causing the collapse of the spear and the death of the palm by destruction of the meristem within a few weeks. The rot can spread downward more slowly and the palm can continue to emit shorter fronds with partial or total rot of some leaflets. In this case, the syndrome may be lethal or not. The non-lethal forms lead to the weakening of the palm and to a possible recovery. In all the forms of bud-rot the lower fronds and the roots stay normal. Various scientists have inves
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