A Comparison of Microbial Communities in Three Morphs of the Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier), a Key Pest of Date Palms

Abstract

The invasive insect pest, red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus , poses a significant threat to date production, causing substantial economic damage. If uncontrolled, RPW leads the severely infested host tree to collapse and eventually die. The symbiotic associations with microorganisms and RPW in their gut may help their host insects’ establishment, development, nutrition assimilation, and survival. The objective of this research was the molecular characterization of the microbiome of RPW. In this study, the microbiome was compared among different tissues in females and males of RPW of three different morphs and larvae collected from date palm plantations in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A 251-bp segment of bacterial 16S rRNA was amplified by PCR, sequenced, and processed using the bioinformatics platform QIIME2. One ASV, corresponding to the obligate weevil symbiont Nardonella , predominated in adult female samples, constituting 56 ± 7% of total reads, but was less dominant in male samples (12 ± 3%) and larval samples (2.6 ± 1.9%). For females, samples that included reproductive tissues were almost entirely composed of Nardonella (88% - 99%). When Nardonella was excluded from analyses, there were no differences between adult females and adult males, but larval samples were more species-rich and differed in microbial composition from adults. There were no consistent differences in the microbiomes among morphs. Several specimens showed evidence of infection with host-specific strains of Spiroplasma -like members of the Entomoplasmatales, which are often pathogens or vertically transmitted symbionts. Such close microbial associates deserve additional attention as potential routes to control this destructive date palm pest.