The Red Palm Weevil

This palm is obviously suffering

Today a team from the Belediye and a gentleman from The Agriculture Ministry turned up to remove it, as it was infested by the red palm weevil. Apparently the beetle has been demolishing palm stocks around the Mediterranean since the late '80s. 

Using the JCB the palm was quickly uprooted

and removed onto the back of a waiting lorry for disposal

This is the offending beastie ..

It lays around 200 eggs into young or injured trees at the crown or injury point. The eggs hatch into these larvae which then burrow up to a metre into the tree.

They continue to cause damage for about a month before exiting the tree, dropping to the base and forming a cocoon from the fibrous material found there amongst the leaf litter.

Then they proceed to turn into a chrysalis 

Eventually they emerge as adults and the cycle continues,

each cycle lasting around 6-7 weeks

 

Because of this pest hundreds of palm trees have had to be removed from Didim this year.