Bibliography of date palm pests and lessons learned to manage RPW

Establishing a bibliography of the main palm pests in the Arab region, especially the red palm weevil (RPW), is a very important approach. The bibliography includes a comprehensive inventory of all independent and arranged data sources for information related to the pest. Such a bibliography will have a role in assisting workers, technicians, and officials responsible for developing pest management programmes in general and date palm pests in particular. Also, it will be a useful aid to researchers, extension agents, agricultural producers, and industry, as well as government officials involved in pest management. Since bibliographies are important keys as sources of information characterized by saving effort, time, and costs, they will help researchers to complete their research faster, more comprehensively, more accurately, and more efficiently. This paper will focus on an analytical study of a prepared bibliography for the RPW Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliver (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), as it is now one of the most dangerous palm pests in our Arab region. The study started by compiling 621 articles from different sources, including publications in scientific journals, proceedings of scientific meetings, specialized books, scientific theses, internet, specialized databases, the Arab Scientific Community Organization list of published research on palm pests, and others. The scientific papers were classified into 18 major research areas and 28 sub-fields. Data extracted from such bibliography indicate that there is a real need for more efforts and research to: strengthen the role of some of the basic components in IPM programmes such as threshold level and natural control; enhancing the adoption of biotechnology products, and some other potential components; carry out more molecular investigations to provide a better understanding of the insect’s behavior and the interaction between its immune system and biological control agents; encouraging researches on evaluating the current RPW management programs in light of the local conditions of each Arab country.