Sympatry of Two Species of Heilipus Germar, 1824 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Infesting Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) in Central Mexico

Abstract

Avocado trees are attacked by many species of phytophagousinsects,includingthestalk-,fruit-,and branch-boring curculionid weevils of the genera HeilipusGermar,ConotrachelusDejean,andCopturus Scho¨nherr.Theseinsectshaveapparentlyevolved with avocado in the center of diversification of this plant (Equihua-Mart´ ınez 2001) and have now come to be designated as quarantined pests in the commercial cultivation of avocado, constituting a limiting factor for local and international commercialization (SAGARPA 2002; Peterson and Orden 2008).Thissituationhasrequiredtheimplementation ofdiversepestcontrolstrategiesinavocadoorchards, which have successfully excluded the big avocado seed weevil, Heilipus lauri Boheman, and the small avocadoseedweevil,ConotrachelusperseaeBarber, fromMichoaca´n,Mexico’smainavocado-producing state. However, the species are present in more remote agroecosystems where management programs are virtually nonexistent, converting these areas into natural reservoirs of these weevil pests of avocado.