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Cocoa Pod Borer Identification

Posted by gmtenhoopen on 13 Apr 2014 at 09:56 GMT

In the materials and methods section of this article "Insect pests and natural enemies surveys, the authors refer to a cocoa pod borer which they identify as Conopomorpha cramerella Snellen. I would like to ask the authors how they determined that it was this species that was present in Cameroon.

Conopomorpha cramerella is a species that causes considerable problems on cocoa in Asia and to my knowlegde is also restricted to this geographical region (see for example the distribution maps provided by CABI for their invasive species compendium).

If the authors have correctly identified this species in Cameroon, which I sincerely doubt, this could have serious repercussions for Cameroonian cocoa production and alerting the authorities about the presence of this species would be an absolute necessity.

However, as I said before, I sincerely doubt that this species is present in Cameroon. If the authors have mistakenly cited Conopomorpha cramerella, I would like to urge them to officially rectify this.

G. Martijn ten Hoopen PhD
Chairmain of the International working group on Cocoa Pests and Diseases (INCOPED)
Epidemiologist
CIRAD Bios – UR Bioagresseurs : Analyse et Gestion du Risque (106)
Direction Régionale du CIRAD pour l'Afrique Centrale
BP 2572 Yaoundé, Cameroun

No competing interests declared.