Performance and population prediction of Opisina arenosella on four species of palm plants

Opisina arenosella Walker (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) is a major pest of coconut, Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae), but also of other palm plant species. Information on its life history on hosts other than coconut is missing. Age-stage two-sex life tables and a population prediction model were used to assess the development, survival, reproduction, and population growth potential of O. arenosella populations bred from four palm plants: C. nucifera, Livistona chinensis (Jacq.) R.Br. ex Mart., Roystonea regia (Kunth) O.F. Cook, and Elaeis guineensis Jacq. The results revealed that O. arenosella could complete a generation on all four hosts. Still, they showed relatively high fitness on L. chinensis, second to that on C. nucifera, with the shortest generation time (egg to pupa, 71.1 days), higher stage survival (egg: 0.89; larva: 0.74; pupa: 0.56), fecundity (176.3 eggs), and population growth potential. On L. chinensis, net reproductive rate, R-0, was 35.1, gross reproduction rate, GRR = 88.8, intrinsic rate of increase, r = 0.049 per day, finite rate of increase, lambda = 1.050 per day, mean generation time, T = 72.1 days, and doubling time, DT = 14.1 days. Based on 10 eggs, the population prediction model showed that larval populations on L. chinensis could develop to the third generation in 180 days and reached the peak value (9870.2 larvae) on day 158. Besides coconut, all three palm plant species can support O. arenosella to complete the life cycle. The outcomes of this research may be beneficial in formulating pest management strategies for palm crops.