- 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.Some stay and breed where they developed.
- Adults swarm, and may spread in updrafts of air.
- Natural enemies: the fungus Beauvaria appears to give good control, compared to parasitoids or ants, which have not been as effective as required.
- Cultural control: pick berries as they ripen; collect fallen blackened berries, or break cycle over 3 months by stripping them from the bush and collecting berries on the ground (if labour is available and costs economic); prune to keep bushes at manageable height, remove suckers and dead branches; stump prune tall or bushes with declining yield stimulating new growth; destroy abandoned plantations.
- Chemical control: use Beauvaria, a fungus (to preserve natural enemies); or use pirimiphos methyl.
