Abstract

The black weevil, Aclees taiwanensis Kôno (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is one of the primary pests of fig trees in southeastern Asia and southern Europe. Thought to be of subtropical and tropical Asian origin, including China, the weevil was first found in southern areas of South Korea in July 2020. Subsequently, it was found in the following five cities: Haenam, Hampyeong, Jindo, Sinan, and Tongyeong (RDA 2020). Attempts to trace a possible pathway for the exotic black weevil suggested that this species probably followed pathways of illegal importation of infested plants from Taiwan and was unintentionally introduced into South Korea based on analysis of a Pest Information System (PIS) database, a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial cy-tochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) sequences data, and interviews with fig growers. In addition, this exotic weevil could expand to other regions of South Korea since proper control methods for this weevil pest have not yet been developed and some fig trees are cultivated using eco-friendly farming practices. Therefore, constant monitoring will be required for the invasive alien weevil species which seriously damages the trunk of fig trees.

References

• Altschul SF, Gish W, Miller W, Myers EW, Lipman DJ. 1990. Basic local alignment search tool. Journal of Molecular Biology 215: 403–410.  
• Ciampolini M, Regalin R, Perrin H. 2005. Aclees cribratus, nuovo per l’Italia, nocivo al fico allevato in vivaio. L’Informatore Agrario 47: 69–71.  
• Diagne C, Leroy B, Gozlan RE, Vaissière AC, Assailly C, Nuninger L, Roiz D, Jourdain F, Jarić I, Courchamp F. 2020. InvaCost, a public database of the economic costs of biological invasions worldwide. Scientific Data 7: 277.  
• Farina P, Mazza G, Benvenuti C, Cutino I, Giannotti P, Conti B, Bedini S, Gargani E. 2021. Biological notes and distribution in southern Europe of Aclees taiwanensis Kôno, 1933 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): A new pest of the fig tree. Insects 12(1): 5.  
• Felsenstein J. 1985. Confidence limits on phylogenies: An approach using the bootstrap. Evolution 39: 783–791.  
• Halbert SE, Moore MR, Bartlett CR, Allen JS. 2020. Identification of planthoppers (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) intercepted on aquarium plants in Florida and elucidation of a potential pathway for exotic aquatic and semiaquatic pests. Insecta Mundi 0775: 1–6.  
• Hebert PDN, Penton EH, Burns JM, Janzen DH, Hallwachs W. 2004. Ten species in one: DNA barcoding reveals cryptic species in the neotropical skipper butterfly Astrapes fulgerator. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101: 14812–14817.  
• Hong KJ, Park DK, Lee SM. 2020. First report of the exotic fig weevil, Aclees taiwanensis Kôno (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Korea. Korean Journal of Applied Entomology 59(4): 277–280.  
• Lee SH. 2019. National species list of Korea, III. Insects (Hexapoda). Designzip; Seoul. 988 p 
• Meregalli M, Boriani M, Bollino M, Hsu CF. 2020. Review of the species of Aclees described by Kôno (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae). Zootaxa 4768: 146–150.  
• Nei M, Kumar S. 2000. Molecular evolution and phylogenetics. Oxford University Press; New York. 348 p 
• Park JS. 2010. Compendium of exotic plant pests and weeds. National Plant Quarantine Service; Anyang, South Korea. 292 p 
• Perrings C, Dehnen-Schmutz K, Touza J, Williamson M. 2005. How to manage biological invasions under globalization. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20(5): 212–215.  
• PIS (Pest Information System). 2021. Pest Information System (internal database Plant Quarantine Technology Center/ APQA, South Korea). Available at https://10.110.128.100  (Last accessed December 2021.)
• Ratnasingham S, Hebert PDN. 2007. BOLD: the Barcode of Life Data System (http://www.barcodinglife.org). Molecular Ecology Notes 7: 355–364. Available at http://www.barcodinglife.org 
• RDA (Rural Development Administration). 2020. Report on occurrence survey of the black weevil in southern regions of South Korea. RDA/Extension Service Bureau Disaster Management Division; South Korea. 8 p 
• Saitou N, Nei M. 1987. The neighbor-joining method: A new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Molecular Biology and Evolution 4: 406–425.  
• Tamura K, Stecher G, Peterson D, Filipski A, Kumar S. 2013. MEGA6: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 6.0. Molecular Biology and Evolution 30: 2725–2729.