Feeding preferences and oviposition performance of olive weevil adult Pimelocerus perforatus (Roelofs, 1873) on five Oleaceae plants.

Abstract

The olive weevil Pimelocerus perforatus (Roelofs, 1873) is a destructive wood-boring pest of Oleaceae plants, which has caused serious damage to Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall and Olea europaea L. in China and Japan. This study evaluated the feeding preference, nutritional indices, and oviposition performance of olive weevil adults feeding on five Oleaceae plants, F. pennsylvanica, O. europaea, Osmanthus fragrans Lour., Syringa oblata Lindl., and Ligustrum × vicaryi Rehder. The results showed that adult olive weevils preferred to feed on O. fragrans, with a selection rate of 56.25 ± 6.91%, followed by F. pennsylvanica and O. europaea. No feeding preference was observed on L. × vicaryi. The nutritional index F values for female adult weevils feeding on F. pennsylvanica and S. oblata were the highest, 0.37 ± 0.02 g and 0.37 ± 0.01 g, respectively. For both female and male adults, F values were lowest on O. europaea for both sexes, while ECD, ECI, and GR were highest on this host. Although adult olive weevils preferred O. fragrans, the female adults did not exhibit oviposition behaviour after feeding on O. fragrans. After feeding on F. pennsylvanica and S. oblata, the maximum number of eggs laid by female adults was 19.20 ± 3.90 and 18.80 ± 3.11, respectively. Therefore, we believe that F. pennsylvanica and S. oblata may be the plants with the most serious harm caused by adult olive weevils, while O. fragrans could be used as a trap plant to attract female adult olive weevils.