THE POTENTIAL NATURAL PREDATORS OF Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust, 1878 (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE) IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

The pollinating weevil Elaeidobius kamerunicus, Faust 1878 is one of the main pollinating weevils for oil palm, Elaeis guineensis. This pollinating insect was brought from Cameroon (West Africa) and introduced in Southeast Asia in 1981, thus replaced the inefficient assisted pollination processes, reduced assisted pollination cost, increase quality of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) and obtains higher profits (Syed et al. 1982; Basri et al. 1983). After a decade prior to the introduction of the pollinating weevil, there were a claimed that FFBs had declined tremendously   causing   several  billion  dollars   lost  in   yearly revenue (Rao & Law 1998; Kang 1999). Recently, there are even reports from plantation in Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia of poor pollination and low fruit set (Teo 2015). The decline in yield has been associated with the decline in population and pollination efficiency of E. kamerunicus. Some probable cause was associated with predation, parasitism, disease and infection and also improper application of insecticides (Agus et al. 2014 and reference therein; Norman Kamarudin, pers comm).