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Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet Edition

Coffee berry borer (118)

Photo 1. Adult coffee bean borer, Hypothenemus hamperi, about 1.5 mm long and covered with stiff hairs.

Photo 2. Adult Hypothenemus hampei, about 1.5 mm long, showing its relative size to a coffee bean.

Photo 3. The life cycle of the coffee bean borer, Hypothenemus hamperi, takes place in the coffee bean; this photo shows the frass that accumulates as the larvae and adults eat the beans.

Photo 4. Coffee beans damaged by the coffee bean borer, Hypothenemus hamperi. Even a few bored beans lower quality, and if the consignment is not dried properly the beetles will continue to breed in storage and increase the damage.

Summary

Worldwide distribution. On arabica and robusta coffee. A major beetle pest.
The female bores into the berries to lay eggs, the larvae hatch and eat the beans, and winged female adults leave in search of other berries.
Adults swarm, so possibly spread is in air updrafts.
Natural enemies: the fungus Beauvaria appears to give the good control, compared to parasitoids or ants which have provided little control.
Cultural control: pick berries as they ripen; collect fallen blackened berries, or break cycle over 3 months by collecting berries on the ground and stripping them from the bush; after harvest, prune to keep bushes at manageable height; destroy abandoned plantations.
Chemical control: use Beauvaria, a fungus (to preserve natural enemies); or use pirimiphos methyl.

Common Name

Coffee berry borer

Scientific Name

Hypothenemus hampei

AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
Information from Waterhouse DF, Norris KR (1989) Biological Control Pacific Prospects - Supplement 1. ACIAR Monograph No. 12. Inprint Limited, Brisbane; and ¹Evaluation of non-chemical alterantives to endosulfan (2012) UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8?INF/14/Rev.1. UN/UNEP; and from Aristizabal LF, et al. (2016) Integrated pest management of coffee berry borer: strategies from Latin America that could be useful for coffee farmers in Hawaii. Insects 7(1). 24pp. (http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/7/1/6). Photo 1 Georg Goergen, IITA-Benin. Photo 2 Peggy Greb, USDA, ARS. Photo 3 Save Kona coffee! Fighting the coffee berry borer. (http://marcoinkona.com/2012/04/21/save-kona-coffee-fighting-the-coffee-berry-borer/). Photo 4 Forest and Kim Star. Coffee Berry Borer parchment seeds with damage sample at Kula Community Centre, Maui, Hawaii. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/32087834650/).

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project PC/2010/090: Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high-value crop production, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

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