Leaf damage

Sri Lanka weevil

Spur of the Sri Lanka weevil

The Sri Lanka Weevil, Myllocerus undecimpustulatus undatus Marshall, is an invasive species not previously known in the United States until its discovery in Broward County, Florida in 2000. It has spread to at least 18 Florida counties on both coasts including Charlotte, Collier, Hendry, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, and St. Lucie Counties. Adults cause excessive leaf damage to a long and growing list of plant species, including many important commercial tropical fruits and ornamental plants. The immature stages are spent entirely in the soil where larvae damage roots.

The Sri Lanka weevil is similar in appearance to the Little Leaf Notcher (Artipus floridanus), the major differences being Myllocerus undatus has a yellow head, much larger eyes, longer antennae, a thinner thorax and spiculs or spurs on the hind legs.

The female weevil may lay 360 eggs over a three day period; they hatch in three to five days. The larva feed on roots for one to two months. The pupa lay in soil or leaf litter. The adults live from 10 to 150 days.

Sri Lanka weevils have voracious appetites. Sometimes only the primary and secondary leaf veins remain. New growth is particularly vulnerable. The tree may decline and become stunted due to continued loss of canopy.

Adults are not strong flyers, but they do spread by flying. They can also be spread by infested plant material (roots and/or shoots).

Control
Very little in the way of bio-control or cultural control is available at this time. Destruction of abandoned groves and clean-up of vacant lots with host plants is important. Frequent disking of groves can be tried to reduce the population of larvae and pupae but this may not be practical or desirable because of root damage.

Adults are difficult to control due to their ability to hide and fly. Adults from one area may fly to a new area and re-infestation is a rapid and common occurrence. Chemical control of eggs, larvae and pupae is difficult because of their soil habitat.

The following is just a sampling of some of the host plants for the Sri Lanka Weevil:

• Fruit crops: akee, avocado, carambola, cashew, citrus spp., jaboticaba, longan, loquat, lychee, mamey sapote, mamoncillo, mango, papaya, muscadine grape, passion fruit spp., Surinam cherry
• Ornamentals: veitchia palm spp., areca palm, bottlebrush, buttonwood, satin leaf, crepe myrtle, earleaf acacia, ficus, Hong Kong orchid tree, live oak, mahoe, black olive, mahogany, orange jasmine, pigeon plum, plumbago, pygmy date palm, seagrape, strangler fig, woman’s tongue, wild tamarind