Development Toward Rapid Diagnostic Tools for Boll Weevil Identification and Source Estimation

The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) is an infamous cotton pest in the United States and one of the most important pests of cotton in Central and South America.

Management of boll weevil relies on diagnostic assays of weevils collected in pheromone-baited monitoring traps. However, multiple Anthonomus species come to these traps, and current assays for taxon identification are not always reliable and can be time intensive. These methods can often lead to ambiguous or slow determinations, especially when the sample is in poor condition, complicating decision-making for management. Improper diagnoses can lead to losses in revenue due to unnecessary and costly spraying and can trigger quarantines leading to losses in trade. Conversely, determinations failing to recognize pest infestations could lead to monumentally costly establishment of pest populations.

Second, it can be beneficial to management to determine where trapped weevils originate from geographically, especially if the trapping event occurs in a previously eradicated area. This will allow for potentially targeting the source population for treatment, thereby preventing further reinfestation.

Thus, there is a need for a new suite of molecular diagnostic tools that can (1) rapidly and accurately identify Anthonomus spp. and (2) estimate the likely geographic source of a trapped weevil. Our group is currently developing methods to achieve these goals. In this presentation, we will present the most up-to-date progress report for this effort.