Heilipus lauri, BOHEMAN, 1845

Castañeda-Vildozola, Álvaro, Franco-Mora, Omar, Pérez-Lopez, Delfina De Jesús, Nava-Díaz, Cristian, Carrasco, Jorge Vâldez & Vargas-Rojas, Luis, 2013, Association ofHeilipus lauriBoheman andConotrachelus perseaeBarber (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on Avocado in Mexico, The Coleopterists Bulletin 67 (2), pp. 115-118 : 116-118

ASSOCIATION OF HEILIPUS LAURI BOHEMAN AND CONOTRACHELUS PERSEAE BARBER ( COLEOPTERA : CURCULIONIDAE ) ON AVOCADO IN MEXICO

ÁLVARO CASTAÑEDA- VILDÓZOLA, OMAR FRANCO- MORA, DELFINA DE JESÚS PÉREZ- LÓPEZ Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados en Fitomejoramiento, Facultad de Ciencias Agrícolas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Campus el Cerrillo Toluca 50200, Estado de México, MEXICO [e-mail]

CRISTIAN NAVA- DÍAZ, JORGE VÁLDEZ CARRASCO AND LUIS VARGAS- ROJAS Colegio de Posgraduados, Campus Montecillo. Carretera México-Texcoco Km 36.5 Montecillo Texcoco 56230, Estado de México, MEXICO

Mexico is the world’ s primary producer and exporter of avocado ( Persea americana Mill. ). During 2010, avocado was grown on 123,000 ha (SIAP 2012) that produced 1.1 million tons of fruit valued at $900 million. Eighty percent of exports of this fruit is to the USA (Morales 2012), but quarantined pests might limit these exports. These pests include the weevils Heilipus lauri Boheman ( Fig. 1 ), Copturus aguacatae Kissinger , Conotrachelus perseae Barber ( Fig. 2 ), and Conotrachelus aguacatae Barber , and the avocado seed moth, Stenoma catenifer Walsingham (Peterson and Orden 2008) . To date, H. lauri and S. catenifer are not recorded in Michoacán, the main avocado-producing state in Mexico, and C. perseae is officially under control in Michoacán (Salazar-García et al. 2004).

Associations of avocado weevils in the same ecological area have not been reported in Mexico. Therefore, we inspected new sites outside of Michoacán to determine any associative presence of H. lauri and C. perseae attacking avocado fruits in the same agroecosystem.

Twenty-five fruits from six avocado trees of cultivar Hass and twelve fruits from four trees of Persea american a var. drymifolia or “avocado criollo” showing symptoms similar to those produced by avocado weevils were collected on 2 August 2009 in five backyard orchards in San Juan Acaxochitlan, Hidalgo, Mexico (20°11′37″N, 98°08′25″W, 1,670 m elevation). On 14 October 2009, three backyard orchards were sampled and 20 fruits from four Hass avocado trees and 18 fruits from two Fuerte variety avocado trees showing similar symptoms to the fruits collected in Hidalgo were collected in Meyuca, Coatepec Harinas, Estado de México (18°51′18″N, 99°46′59″W, 1,992 m elevation).

Collected fruits were classified according to shape of perforation ( Figs. 3, 4 ), placed in plastic con- tainers (30 × 23 × 9 cm) and incubated at 26±1°C and 50% RH. Twelve days later, the fruits were dissected. The seed was removed to determine presence of any larvae which were placed into a new fruit (Hass) to continue development. Two kinds of curculionid larvae were found in the fruits and identified to genus level by using the keys in García-Arellano (1975). The weevil larvae were determined as Heilipus Germar sp. in Hass avocado fruits only and as Conotrachelus Dejean sp. in criollo and Fuerte avocado fruits. Pupation by Heilipus larvae occurred in the seed. Conotrachelus larvae emerged from the fruits, after which they were collected from the containers and placed in glass flasks (10.0 × 3.5 cm) with 9 cm of soil to facilitate pupation. The adult weevils were identified using the keys in Barber (1923) and Whitehead (1979) for Conotrachelus sp. and Barber (1919) and Castañeda et al. (2007) for Heilipus sp.

Collected insects were identified as H. lauri (12 specimens: 2♀ from San Juan Acaxochitlan; 4♀ and 6♂ from Meyuca) and C. perseae (17 specimens: 2♂ from San Juan Acaxochitlan; 7♀ and 8♂ from Meyuca). These are new state records for C. perseae in Mexico . All specimens were deposited in the Insectario de la Facultad de Ciencias Agrícolas de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México in Toluca, Mexico.

Heilipus lauri was described by Boheman (1845) from specimens collected in Mexico, and two specimens were reported by Champion (1902) from the Sallé collection from Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico. It has been reported from Puebla, Morelos, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Guerrero, and Estado de México (Peña 1998; Castañeda et al. 2007) and also from Colombia (Caicedo et al. 2010). There were deep perforations ( Fig. 3 ) in the fruits that we collected; each fruit may sustain one or two larvae. Pupae were formed inside the avocado seed and adults emerged through a perforation. Adults are diurnal.

Conotrachelus perseae was described from specimens collected in Guatemala (Barber 1919). This pest has been reported from Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica (Whitehead 1979). In Mexico, it was recorded in Michoacán and Puebla (Muñiz 1970; Coria-Avalos 1999). Adults of C. perseae are nocturnal. Injury to fruits includes small superficial perforations ( Fig. 4 ). Larvae feed on the seed and pupae are formed outside the fruit, commonly in the soil.

Our finding increases the knowledge about the distributions of these pests in Mexico. It is significant that our observations provide evidence that both species may damage avocado fruits in the same agroecosystem, providing information that contradicts previous reports. For example, García- Arellano (1962) and Wysoki et al. (2002) reported that H. lauri and C. perseae were not found in the same ecological area. This information may be useful for controlling these important pests, which without control may cause losses from 60 to 70% of avocado fruit production in backyard orchards.

Figures

Figs. 1–4. 1) Heilipus lauri, female, lateral view; 2) Conotrachelus perseae, female, lateral view; 3) Hass avocado with damage by H. lauri; 4) Criollo avocado infested by C. perseae.