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Big black bug killing our palm trees


sm1mex

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We saw one on our property, about 1 1/2 inches long and black with a little stem sticking out the front of it's head. They lay eggs in the top of palms and the larvae eat the heart of the palm and the palm dies. If you see these things, step on them.

sm1mex
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There is an article in the Guadalajara Reporter issue Feb 10-16, 2018 about the South American palm tree weevil, calling it a plague. They said if your tree has been affected to cut it down and BURN IT! it says that palm trees in the Chapala area are under threat of "mass death". (Black bugs one and a half inches in length when adult, while larvae may grow to 2 inches.)

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I have been finding black bugs that have somehow entered my house, apparently at night and then dying before I wake up in the morning. No one who has looked at these bugs have ever seen one like it and do not know what it is. They seem to be slightly larger than 1/2 inch long  (not 1.5 inches as explained above) with two curved whiskers sticking out and in front of the head of each bug, one curving to the left and the other to the right which are almost 1/4 of an inch long.

I sure hope that whatever they are, that they are not the bugs you are talking about. If they are, there are so many that the neighborhood is over-run with them.

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I want to add that based on a google search for the South American palm tree weevil, I am happy to say that whatever the black bugs are that have been entering my house every evening to die during the night for the past 4 weeks,, they do not look like the many pictures shown by google for the Palm Tree Weevil.

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1 hour ago, johanson said:

I have been finding black bugs that have somehow entered my house, apparently at night and then dying before I wake up in the morning. No one who has looked at these bugs have ever seen one like it and do not know what it is. They seem to be slightly larger than 1/2 inch long  (not 1.5 inches as explained above) with two curved whiskers sticking out and in front of the head of each bug, one curving to the left and the other to the right which are almost 1/4 of an inch long.

I sure hope that whatever they are, that they are not the bugs you are talking about. If they are, there are so many that the neighborhood is over-run with them.

That sounds more like an earwig.  Post a photo of the bug.

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Just got a new cell phone and it will be time to take my first pictures, I presume, when they return Sat Morning. Whatever they are neither my gardener, maid, nor several Mexican neighbors remember ever seeing them before.

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Here's what the Guadalajara Reporter article said regarding palm trees under threat of the "evil weevil"in the Chapala area:

"Curative and preventive treatments are costly, requiring the intervention of tree care experts. The suggested practical approach is to cut down diseased palms and burn them to prevent the further contagion. For additional information and tree removal permits, visit the ecology office located in the north wing of the upper floor at city hall.

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I can see how curative spraying on the crown of very tall palms would be very high  bit I lost a beautifull big palm that was not very tall and I am sorry I did not know about that bug until it was too late because I would have paid to have it treated.

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