Red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) is a destructive invasive pest that has caused extensive loss of palm trees worldwide. Moreover, recent studies have shown that the intestinal microbes residing in the gut have potential roles in pest fitness and nutrition assimilation. Nevertheless, experimental evidence on the relationships between RPW and its gut microbiota in addition to the exact effects of gut microbiota on the RPW phenotype and the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. This study used Illumina HiSeq next-generation sequencing analysis focusing on clarifying the taxonomic profiles of gut microbiota in RPW larva and pupa. The study revealed that RPW harbours a rich and diversified microorganism assemblage that mainly includes bacteria belonging to Enterobacteriaceae, Lactobacillaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae, and Leuconostocaceae.
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Moreover, the bacterial community associated with the two weevil developmental stages differs, whereas the bacterial diversity and richness remarkably decreased at the transition from larva to pupa. As well isolation and sequencing of bacteria from field-caught specimen weevils were conducted, whereas, 27 bacterial species in 21 genera including Klebsiella, Serratia, Salmonella, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Providencia, Pseudacidovorax, Pseudomonas, and Stenotrophomonas were detected. However, all these genera included species capable of cellulose degradation. All considered our results provide initial information for the characterization of RPW gut microbiota, cellulolytic bacterial species, and RPW functional association with a guild of symbiotic microorganisms.
