Notes on borers of date palms in Iraq

Abstract

Brief notes are given on five species of boring insects that attack date palms in Iraq and between them cause considerable damage, based on observations in 1957–62. They comprise the Pyralid Arenipses sabella Hmps., the larva of which mines the spathes and fruit stalks, preventing fruit maturation; the Cerambycid Pseudophilus testaceus Gah., the larva of which mines the frond bases and stem;the Dynastid Oryctes elegans Prell, of which the adult makes a surface mine in the frond mid-rib or fruit stalk and the larva develops, usually, inside the stem of dead or moribund palms; the Bostrychid Phonapate frontalis (Fhs.), which mines in the frond mid-rib; and the termite Microcerotermes diversus Silv., which makes covered galleries up the outside of the stem and mines within the stems and frond bases of weakly palms.