• Yellowing of foliage
• Destruction of emerging leaves
• Necrosis on flowers

Internal

• Mining of the trunks and leaf stems
• Plant tissue becomes necrotic and decays
• Unpleasant and characteristic odour produced

Larvae of R. phoenicis (source: Lautenschläger T, Neinhuis C, Monizi M, Mandombe JL, Förster A, Henle T, Nuss M (2017), CABI ISC)

• Leaves of infested palms become yellow and flowers become necrotic
• Observe for galleries and damage to leaf-stems can be identified in heavy infestations
• Pupae and old larvae are frequently found when inspecting the crowns of infested palms
• The tissues of infested plants become foul, producing a strong and characteristic odour

This is the primary means of control

• Adult R. phoenicis are attracted to the odour of feeding sites and to damaged palms, in which they lay their eggs. Hence, avoiding wounds during agronomic practices is crucial
• Traps made from thinned or wild palms which are felled divert weevils away from cultivated palms
• A number of chemical compounds stimulated strong antennal responses of the weevils, including ethyl acetate, ethyl propionate, isobutyl propionate, ethyl butyrate, and ethyl isobutyrate. These volatiles are all characteristic of fermenting oil and coconut palm trees

• Carbaryl or similar insecticides can be injected into infested feeding galleries or into the trunk above infested regions (Hill, 1983).

• A male-specific aggregation pheromone has been identified in R. phoenicis. Trapping studies in Côte d'Ivoire have demonstrated that synthetic blends of this aggregation pheromone are highly attractive in the field).
• The synthetic aggregate pheromone, 3-methyl-4-octanol (phoenicol) is suitable as attractant. R. phoenicis produces and responds to only one of the four possible stereoisomers of 3-methyl-4-octanol (Gries et al., 1993; Rochat et al., 1993; 1995; Perez et al., 1994).