Introduction of a New Virus Disease of the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle in Western Samoa

Abstract

IN 1963 Huger^1,2 discovered and described a new type of insect virus Rhabdionvirus oryctes Huger in populations of the rhinoceros beetle Oryctes rhinoceros L. (Dynastinae, Scarab., Col.) in Malaya. This pathogen is at present being tested for its use in the biological control of the rhinoceros beetle, which has become a devastating pest of coconut palm trees since its recent introduction to the islands of the South Pacific^3–5. The first attempts to introduce Rhabdionvirus into populations of Oryctes began in 1967 in Western Samoa, where no virus disease had been found during the five years of investigation of the beetle population⁶. Grubs infected with the virus were supplied by the laboratory of the Biologische Bundesanstalt (Institut für Biologische Schädlingsbekämpfung) in Darmstadt, Germany.