Temporal presence of adults red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. in Safwan-Basra Governorate south of Iraq

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) is considered as a dangerous pest infesting date palm causing serious damage to palm trees in the world. In Iraq, infestation of this pest was recorded for the first time in Safwan, Basrah Governorate south of Iraq during October 2015. The present study was conducted in date palm groves in Safwan region of Basra in Iraq during 2017-2020. The main objective of the study was to investigate the seasonal distribution of RPW population in the region by using aggregation pheromone traps placed in date palm orchards. Results indicated that RPW has three peaks on date palm trees throughout the year 2017, the weevils appeared during the second week of march and continued till the end of the year. The highest number of weevils captured was 13, 13 and 19 adults biweekly in May, October and November, respectively. Two peaks were recorded in 2018-2020.The highest rate of adults catches was 41 adults bi-weekly during the end of April, and 31 adults bi-weekly in end of October in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, the weevils appeared in January. The highest number of adults was 35 adults bi-weekly at the end of April and 31 adults bi-weekly in the second week of November in 2019. While in 2020, the highest number of adults captured was 25 adults bi-weekly in the second week of April and 33 adult bi-weekly in the second week of November. Results also indicated there were different relations between some climate factors (such as temperature, relative humidity and wind speed) and population activity of R. ferrugineus during 2017-2020. It was concluded that the pheromone traps were effective in capturing adults and monitoring population of RPWs, and climatic factors play an important role on the abundance of this pest in the study region.