Tirathaba rufivena (coconut spike moth)

Laboratory and field studies have been conducted in the Philippines to assess the effectiveness of different parasites and pathogens of T. rufivena. Larvae of >15 mm were highly susceptible to the entomoparasitic nematode, Steinernema feltiae, in the laboratory (Zelazny, 1985); however, the pest was not significantly reduced in field trials.The pathogen B. bassiana caused higher mortality of T. rufivena and of two other coconut pests than Metarhizium anisopliae in laboratory tests (Gallego and Gallego, 1988). Godfray and Paine (1985) reared the tachinid fly, Agrophylax basifulva, which was introduced from Fiji; a method of artificial host parasitization was described for this species.Several studies have been conducted on the ichneumonid Venturia palmaris in Malaysia (Ng et al., 1982; Yew, 1980). The parasite was present throughout the year but no parasitism was observed in November or December. The degree of parasitism ranged from 2% in August to 31.9% in February. The parasite preferred to oviposit in late-instar larvae rather than in young larvae or pupae. More than one egg was laid per host but only one larva reached the second instar. Laboratory studies on life cycle and oviposition behaviour indicated that the sex ratio was probably the limiting factor in mass rearing V. palmaris in the laboratory for use in biological control; however, this was not observed in the field.

Chemicals can be used to control this pest. Ground and aerial application and trunk injection of pesticides in oil plantations are described by Gurmit-Singh (1992).