Rhynchophorus, the palm weevils, are a genus of beetles in the weevil family, Curculionidae. Palm weevils are major pests of various trees in the family Arecaceae throughout the tropics including: coconut (Cocos nucifera), Areca catechu, species of the genus Phoenix, and Metroxylon sagu. Two species are invasive pests outside their native ranges, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus and Rhynchophorus palmarum.
Species
Image
Common name
Scientific name
Native distribution
black palm weevil
Rhynchophorus bilineatus (Montrouzier, 1857)
Moluccas, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands
palmetto weevil
Rhynchophorus cruentatus (Fabricius, 1775)
Florida, but has been found as far as southern Texas to the west and South Carolina to the north.
Rhynchophorus distinctus Wattanapongsiri, 1966
Kalimantan
red palm weevil
Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) (aka Calandra ferruginea (Fabricius, 1801))
tropical Asia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines
Rhynchophorus labatus Ritsema, 1882
Sumatra
South American palm weevil
Rhynchophorus palmarum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Argentina to Paraguay and north through South and Central America to central Mexico and the Caribbean (Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and perhaps Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico
African palm weevil
Rhynchophorus phoenicis (Fabricius, 1801)
Senegal to Ethiopia and South Africa.
