Life Cycle

The adult female lays approximately two hundred eggs at the base of young leaves, or in open lesions on the plant. The egg hatches into a white, legless larva. The larva will feed on the soft fibres and terminal buds, tunneling through the internal tissue of the tree for about a month. The larvae can occasionally grow to a length of six to seven centimeters. At pupation, the larva will leave the tree and form a cocoon at the base of the tree. The total life cycle takes about 7–10 weeks. The neonate larvae are yellow-white, segmented, legless, and have a chitinous head capsule that is a darker brown than the rest of the body. They have powerful horizontal conical jaws which they use to burrow from the axils of the leaves to the crown, where they feed voraciously. Upon completion of larval development, the larva will sometimes emerge from the trunk of the tree. The adult insect is an excellent flier and is able to travel great distances while they prefer to attack palms that are already infested or weakened by other stresses, they will colonize healthy palms.

Nature of Damage

The hole can be seen on the stem with chewed up fibres protruding out, Many times reddish brown liquid can be seen oozing out from the hole. The grubs cause damage inside the stem or crown by feeding on soft tissues and often cause severe damage especially when a large number of them bore into the soft, growing parts. In case of severe infestation the inside portion of trunk is completely eaten and become full of rotting fibres.

In case of young palms the top withers while in older palms the top portion of trunk bends and ultimately breaks at the bend (wilting). Sometimes the gnawing sound produced by the feeding grubs inside will also be audible. In the advanced stage of infestation yellowing of the inner whorl of leaves occur.