First record of the agave weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus Gyllenhal) on wild sotol populations (Dasylirion spp., Asparagaceae) in the state of Chihuahua
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29298/rmcf.v17i94.1609Keywords:
bulb, damage, Chihuahuan desert, rosette shrubland, sotol pest, SymptomsAbstract
Sotol stands, a rosette-forming plant from the Chihuahuan Desert that is industrially exploited to produce an alcoholic beverage emblematic of the state, are under pressure from drought, extraction, and, recently, the arrival of a new highly destructive insect pest. This study is the first known report of the presence of the agave weevil in Chihuahua, an insect already taken as one of the main pests of agave in the central-western part of the country, causing plant mortality in sotol stands. The death of the affected plants is gradual, and the severity of the damage is distinguished from a distance by the discoloration of the dead plants which imparts a straw-colored contrast to the sotol stands. Fieldwork in some of them in Buenaventura and Coyame, Chihuahua, in 2024 and 2025, made it possible to observe the damage symptoms and the presence of the insect (pupae and adults) for subsequent identification in the laboratory. Intensive sampling is recommended in the different sotol-producing regions to accurately map the location and severity of damage, and then to apply and adapt some of the control measures already tested in the agave regions of Mexico.
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