Biological studies on palm tree weevil Rhynchophorus Phoenicis fabricius (Coleoptera; Curculionidae): An interest food bug in Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)

Larvae of the palm tree weevil Rhyncophorus phoenicis are consumed and sold on the markets in Côte d’Ivoire, their high prices, in fact a luxury product. In order, to consider possibilities of domestication to increase their availability and decrease the cost, the objective of the present work is to know the development cycle of this species. To do this, a breeding was conducted at the laboratory of Zoology and Animal Biology of the University Felix-Houphouet-Boigny. The rearing device consisted of cylindrical and rectangular plastic boxes. The individuals used come from cocoons collected from palms infested in the field. As soon as the imagoes appeared, pieces of palm trunk were placed in these boxes to serve as support for spawning and nutrition. The total cycle time is 108.51 ± 3.6 days and has 6 larval stages, a nymphal stage followed by adult stage. Female lifetime fecundity was 252.26 ± 3.61 eggs. Incubation period was 4.09 ± 0.53 days with fertility rate of 88.30%. The mean larval and pupal development period were 33, 24 ± 0.9 days and 25.42 ± 2.4 days, respectively. The average emergence rate of adults was 88.30 ± 2.04%. A significant difference was observed in adult life span (F = 28.08, P < 0.05).It is 68.86 ± 3.3 days in males and 54.71 ± 2.7 days in females. This work revealed the possibility of breeding R. phoenicis under controlled conditions. To avoid abusive harvests in already fragile ecosystem, breeding trials on other substrates would be possible.