How does pepper weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) become an important pepper pest in New Jersey?

Abstract

The pepper weevil (Anthonomus eugenii Cano) is a significant insect pest of peppers across the southern United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. In New Jersey, it has been a sporadic pest, occasionally causing severe economic loss. Since 2004, economic infestations of pepper weevil have been occurring almost annually, suggesting that some dynamic of its behavior or biology has changed. Grant funding allowed us to investigate how the weevil spreads from farm to farm and how the weevil arrives in New Jersey. We found numerous ways that the weevils can be spread from farm to farm in 2012, and in 2013 we determined that shipments of infested produce from southern climes to repacking and processing facilities in New Jersey were the most important means of bringing pepper weevils into New Jersey.