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SUGAR-CANE BEETLE BORER Rhabdoscelus obscurus (Boisduval) --
Coleoptera, Curculionidae (Contacts) ------ CLICK on Photo to enlarge &
search for Subject Matter with Ctrl/F. GO TO ALL: Bio-Control Cases
Foreign exploration for natural
enemies began with Dr. F. A. G. Muir of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters
Experiment Station with an expedition to southern China in January 1907. Three years later the project resulted in
successful biological control, and is one of the unique odysseys in this kind
of work. Pemberton (1948) relates,
"At the time Muir began this adventure there was some published
information concerning the borer. It
received its name from specimens collected on New Ireland in 1835. In 1985 it was recorded from the Island of
Larat and by 1895 literature referred to its presence in New Guinea. It was also known in Tahiti and was
supposed to have reached Fiji from Hawaii.
It had also reached North Queensland presumably in cane brought in
from New Guinea. Muir thus had some
grounds for suspecting that the native home of this borer was somewhere in
New Guinea or the Malay Archipelago to the west. He began by spending about two months in the Federated Malay
States searching for the borer but found none. He then spent 10 weeks in West Java studying borers allied to
the cane borer. Here he found no true
parasites; but a number of predatory insects (Histeridae and Hydrophilidae)
were observed feeding on the grubs of these related borers that he found in
palms and banana stumps. He failed to
find the sought after cane borer in Java."
"Muir then went to Borneo in July 1907 to undertake similar borer
studies. He failed to find the cane
borer; but again found predatory insects similar to those found in Java which
fed on other borer grubs occurring in palms and banana stumps. He remained in Borneo until October 1,
1907 and then returned to Java to ship more of these predatory insects to
Honolulu. These failed. Having found no promising natural enemy of
various borers which he studied in Java and Borneo, Muir decided to move into
regions where the cane borer was known to occur and on October 1, 1907 he
left Batavia, Java and journeyed some 1,500 miles eastward to the Island of
Amboina, where he had reason to believe the borer could be found. Arriving at Amboina on October 9, he spent
6 weeks searching for the borer in sugar cane, but failed to find it. He then departed for Larat, a six-day
steamer trip to the southeast, where the cane borer had been found by a
wandering naturalist in 1885.
Arriving at Larat on November 29, 1907, he soon found the cane borer
in sugar cane and in sago-palm stalks and betel-nut palm stems. A month's study of these revealed no
parasites and he returned to Amboina about January 9, 1908. Having learned at Larat that the borer
occurred commonly in sago-palm leaf stalks, he renewed his search for borer
parasites on Amboina and was rewarded with success as soon as he visited a
sago-palm swamp. Here he immediately
found the borer in the palm-leaf stalks and also discovered that from 25 to
90 percent of the borer grubs were parasitized by a tachinid fly, which was
later described and named Ceromasia
sphenophori by Dr. J.
Villeneuve. This is the parasite
which ultimately checked the borer ravages in Hawaii. It is now known as Microceromasia sphenophori
Vill." [= Lixophaga sphenophori].
"To import this fly from Amboina to Honolulu alive in those days
was a disheartening problem.
Transportation was very slow and irregular and all material had to be
sent to Macassar, Celebes, thence to Hong Kong and from there transshipped to
Honolulu. Muir remained in Amboina
eight months striving in various ways to surmount these difficulties. Several shipments of the fly were
attempted but all failed. Mr. Terry
had been sent out to Hong Kong to receive and send on the consignments from
that point to Honolulu. Muir sent 18
consignments of beneficial insects in all, many of which were histerid
beetles which he found preying on borer grubs. With Terry's aid in handling this material at Hong Kong many of
these beetles or their larvae reached Honolulu alive and were liberated in
Hawaiian cane fields, but were never seen again. None of the flies survived the trip. Finally in September 1908, Muir personally conducted a
consignment of the flies from Amboina to Hong Kong, but all died en
route." "Muir then decided to return east to the Island of
Ceram to devise other means, if possible, by which the parasite could be
introduced into Hawaii. He had as a
companion J. C. Kershaw, who had the year before published and excellent book
on the butterflies of Hong Kong. They
worked together in Ceram for a month without success. Knowing that the cane borer occurred in
New Guinea, Muir laid plans to investigate its parasites there, if such could
be found. He returned again to
Macassar and obtained transportation to Port Moresby, New Guinea, on April 9,
1909. Soon after reaching Port
Moresby he found the borer in sugar cane some 15 miles inland and immediately
discovered the same parasite, which he first found in Amboina. This he soon attempted to bring to
Honolulu alive via Thursday Island and Brisbane, Queensland, but he was
forced into a hospital with typhoid fever at Brisbane and his consignment of
flies, which was transshipped to Honolulu by a friend, arrived dead. After 5 weeks hospitalization in Brisbane,
Muir returned to Honolulu to recuperate." "On January 8, 1910, Muir left Honolulu for
Queensland to resume his labors on this problem. During the same month Mr. Kershaw was engaged on the entomology
staff. A relay station for breeding
the parasite was established at Mossman, North Queensland, with Kershaw in
charge. Muir then proceeded to Port
Moresby again to obtain the parasite.
A mail shipment to Kershaw failed and on April 22, 1910, Muir left
Port Moresby for Mossman with a large consignment of parasite material in a
living condition. After unexpected
delays and other difficulties he finally reached Mossman with a good lot of
living parasites. The borer being
common in cane at Mossman, Kershaw had experienced no difficulty in having
three large cages well stocked with borers awaiting Muir's arrival. This was on May 5. Some of these parasites were used to stock
the cages for the production of a new generation. Though suffering from an attack of malaria at the time, Muir
took the remainder of the parasites and departed for Fiji on the first
available steamer. at Fiji, where the
borer was numerous in cane, a cage containing borer-infested cane had been
previously prepared by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to await Muir's
arrival. Upon reaching Fiji, Muir
immediately placed the parasites in the cage and then was forced to enter a
hospital for treatment and rest because of his malarial condition. Kershaw reached Fiji from Mossman,
Queensland, on August 9 with the remainder of the parasites and by then Muir
had sufficiently recovered to depart for Honolulu with Kershaw's cages and
the one he had already prepared in Fiji.
Muir arrived at Honolulu August 16 with a good stock of living
parasitic material and a month later Kershaw arrived from Fiji with more
which he had reared in Fiji from a portion he kept out of the original lot
brought by Muir." These flies were multiplied at the Station in large cages
and distributed to the plantations for more than two years, resulting in the
establishment of this beneficial insect on all parts of Hawaii where sugar
cane was grown, and, during the ensuing years, in the savings of millions of
dollars." DeBach (1974) adds that in order to complete the account
of this biological control project, a subsequent change in variety from soft-
to hard-rind canes which are not as susceptible to the borer, along with the
constant operation of the parasites from New Guinea further reduced the borer
to a more negligible level. However,
in the 1960's a return to more susceptible varieties on Kauai again increased
borer density. DeBach (1974) states
that this is being reduced by replanting partially resistant varieties. For additional details of biological control effort and
biologies of host and natural enemies, please also see the following
(Illingworth 1914, 1918, 1919; Swezey 1914, Muir & Swezey 1916, Veitch
1921, 1926; Pemberton 1925, Vandenburg 1930, Windred 1936, Wilson 1960,
Sabrosky 1967, Long & Hensley 1972). REFERENCES: [Additional
references may be found at:
MELVYL Library ] DeBach, P.
1974. Biological Control by
Natural Enemies. Cambridge University
Press, London & New York. 323 p. Illingworth, J. F. 1914. Further notes on
the breeding of the tachinid fly, parasitic on the cane beetle borer. J. Econ. Ent. 7: 390-98. Illingworth, J. F. 1918. Tachinid parasite
of the cane borer beetle. Queensland
Agric. J. 10: 149-50. Illingworth, J. F. 1919. The sugar cane beetle
borer parasite (Ceromasia sphenophori) in
Queensland. J. Econ.
Ent. 12: 457-59. Long, W. H. & S. D. Hensley. 1972.
Insect pests of sugar cane.
Ann. Rev. Ent. 17: 149-76. Muir, F. & O. H. Swezey. 1916.
The cane borer beetle in Hawaii and its control by natural
enemies. Hawaii.
Sugar Planters' Expt. Sta. Ent. Ser. Bull. 13: 3-51. Pemberton, C. E. 1925. A study of the
cane borer, Rh. obscura and its parasite C. sphenophori at Paau-hau Sugar Plantation Company,
Hawaii. Hawaii. Planters' Rec.
29: 174-85. Pemberton, C. E. 1948. History of the
Entomology Department Experiment Station.
HSPA 1904-45. Hawaiian
Planters Record 52(1): 53-90. Sabrosky,
C. W. 1967. Corrections to a
Catalogue of the Diptera of America North of Mexico. Ent. Soc. Amer. Bull. 13: 115-25. Swezey, O. H.
1914. The introduction of a
tachinid parasite of the sugarcane weevil borer in Hawaii. J. Econ. Ent. 7: 455-57. Vandenberg, S.
R. 1930. Report of the
entomologist. Guam Agric. Expt. Sta.
Rept. 1928: 23-31. Veitch, R.
1921. The partial success of
the tachinid parasite of the sugarcane beetle borer. Fiji. Dept. Agric. Agric. Cir. 2: 46-7. Veitch, R.
1926. Notes on some attempts
to control Fijiian plantation pests by the introduction of parasites and
predators. Pan-Pacific Sci. Cong.
Proc. (1923) 1: 377-83. Wilson, F. 1960.
A review of the biological control of insects and weeds in Australia
and Australian New Guinea.
Commonwealth Inst. Biol. Control, Tech. Commun. 1. 102 p. Windred, G. L.
1936. Investigations on the
cane beetle borer, Rhabdocnemis
obscure Boisd., and its
parasite, Ceromasia sphenophori Vill., in
Fiji. Internatl. Soc. Sugar Cane
Technol. Proc. 1935: 358-78. |
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