SIGHTING OF SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKES PREYING ON RED PALM WEEVILIN TWO COUNTRIES

Abstract

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, commonly known as Red Palm Weevil, is one of the most destructive and invasivepalm pests’ species in the world. The most important host species are coconut palms, oil palms, Canary Island palms and itis considered as a key pest in date palms crops. As the existing chemical – based treatments are not efficient, the eco-friendly biological control methods have now attracted high interest. In this note, we report for the first time the predationof the Red Palm Weevil by two subspecies of Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis, once in Spain and once in SaudiArabia.