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Nutmeg, Myristica fragrans Houtt. (Myristicaceae),
originated in the Moluccas islands of the Malay
Archipelago, is an introduced crop in India. Joseph
(1980) reviewed its cultivation and uses. In India,
nutmeg is cultivated in the southern states of
Karnataka and Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands in an area of about 18, 730 hectares with a
total production of 12, 730 tons (Spices Board,
2015).
Reddy (1977) listed 19 species of insect pests on
nutmeg in Asia and the Pacific, of which 15 occur
in Malaysia. Nutmeg is a profitable crop in India as
it is generally free of serious pest infestations and
does not warrant costly pesticide use. To date, nine
insect species have been recorded as pests on this
exotic tree spice in India (Devasahayam and Koya
1993; Kumar et al., 1994; Veenakumari et al., 1994).
All of them are bugs (one Heteroptera and eight
Sternorrhyncha) and none of these sap feeding
insects are serious pests of the crop. Here, we report
a new pest of nutmeg in India, a leaf beetle
*Author for correspondence: Phone + 91-9446053297; E-mail: prathapankd@gmail.com
Short communication
Sastroides besucheti Medvedev (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae:
Galerucinae) is a pest of nutmeg, Myristica fragrans Houtt.
(Myristicaceae)
K.D. Prathapan1* and A.P. Balan2
1* College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani P. O., Trivandrum – 695 522, Kerala,
India; 2Indian Cardamom Research Institute, Spices Board, Myladumpara, Kailasanadu P. O., Idukki –
685 553, Kerala, India.
Received 26 March 2016; received in revised form 19 May 2016; accepted 16 June 2016
Abstract
The leaf beetle, Sastroides besucheti Medvedev (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae), is reported as
a pest of nutmeg, Myristica fragrans Houtt. (Myristicaceae), in India for the first time. Massive infestation
leads to total defoliation of trees.
Keywords: India, Insect pest, Leaf beetle, New record
Sastroides besucheti Medvedev (Coleoptera:
Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae).
The infestation was observed in July, 2015 in the
farm of the Indian Cardamom Research Institute at
Myladumpara in Idukki District, Kerala (09
0
53.306
N, 77
0
9.355 E, 1083 m above mean sea level). This
is a mixed plantation of nutmeg, clove and black
pepper raised after clearing the forest of all
vegetation, except the large trees retained for shade.
Of the 16 nutmeg trees in the study area, four
females (two each five and seven years old) were
observed heavily infested with S. besucheti (Fig. 1)
and two of these trees shed all the leaves. Trees in
the neighborhood of the infested plants were free
of infestation.
Beetles covered the foliage in large numbers and
flew around when disturbed. Adults fed on both
abaxial and adaxial sides of the leaves by scraping
the green matter and produced characteristic scars
(Fig. 2). Heavily-fed leaves dried up completely and
Journal of Tropical Agriculture 54 (1) : 87-89, 2016
88
fell off. Total drying up of branches was also
observed. Two of the infested trees shed all the
leaves and thus appeared to have dried up. However,
one of them showed signs of gradual recovery by
putting forth new buds in October, 2015. By the
second week of February, 2016, both of the denuded
trees recovered, though partially. No immature stage
of the beetle was observed on shoots. Hence it may
be assumed that eggs are laid in soil and the larva is
a soil dweller that feeds on the roots, as in a common
life cycle of Galerucinae. However, no immature
stage was observed in the soil in the root zone.
Sastroides besucheti was described by Medvedev
(1999) based on 15 specimens collected at Periyar
in Idukki District, India, on 4
th
November, 1972.
Adults are 7.7–8.5 mm long and light lemon yellow
in life with slightly dark apical antennomeres.
Specimens turn light greyish when preserved. The
antenna is thin and long, and reaches the middle of
the elytra. The pronotum is about twice as long as
broad and glabrous with depressions. The elytra are
clothed with short, golden setae. All claws are
simple in the female while the anterior ones are bifid
in the male. The juvenile stages are unknown.
So far, no information was available on the biology
or host plants of S. besucheti. Nutmeg being an
introduced plant, it is most likely that the beetle has
other native plants as hosts. The family
Myristicaceae in the Western Ghats, where the insect
occurs, is represented by five native species in three
genera (Gymnacranthera Warb., Knema Lour. and
Myristica Gronov.) and the introduced M. fragrans
(Nayar et al., 2014). It is probable that one or more
of these are the native hosts of S. besucheti. Jolivet
and Hawkeswood (1995), who reviewed the host
plants of the Chrysomelidae of the world, do not
include any member of Myristicaceae amongst the
host plants of the leaf beetle family. Chrysomelids
reported on Myristicaceae after Jolivet and
Hawkeswood (1995) include Notosacantha
Chevrolat (Cassidinae: Cassidini) (Borowiec et al.,
Figure 1. Adults of Sastroides besucheti Medvedev on host plant, nutmeg, in India. 2. Feeding symptoms
left by adults on the leaves of nutmeg.
Sastroides besucheti Medvedev (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae) is a pest of nutmeg, Myristica fragrans Houtt. (Myristicaceae)
89
2013), Laselva Furth (Galerucinae: Alticini) (Furth,
2007) and Sceloenopla Chevrolat (Cassidinae:
Hispini) (Staines 2011). Bernhardt (2000) has
mentioned chrysomelids as pollinators of
Myristicaceae. This is the first report of a host plant
of S. besucheti. Total defoliation of trees due to
chrysomelid infestation as in this case is unusual.
Voucher specimens of S. besucheti are deposited in
the collections of the National Bureau of
Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), Bengaluru
and the National Pusa Collection, Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Jan Bezdek, Mendel University,
Czech Republic, for identification of S. besucheti.
PKD’s work on leaf beetles is funded by the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research through the
Network Project on Insect Systematics. Srinivasan
V., Manoj P. S. and Devasahayam S., Indian Institute
of Spices Research, Calicut, provided literature.
Devasahayam and Chaboo C. S., Kansas University
critically reviewed the manuscript.
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K.D. Prathapan
and A.P. Balan