The palm trees in a public park in Orihuela Costa have become infested with red weevils .These beetles were never indiginous to Spain but have thrived here because of the transportation of date palms from countries where the insect is rife.They can be transported in mature trees or in smaller more easily transportable plants.

It is the larva which causes the damage and it is they that eat the bases of the young and tender fronds.The female weevil can lay up to 200 eggs and the larvae can attack any part of the palm.

In Orihuela the insects have now transferred from the trees in the public area into the trees in domestic gardens and residents are asking why the council hasn´t treated their trees and so prevented the transfer.

When questioned the town hall has said that the responsibility is that of the regional government and because there has been such a plague in 2009 they have run out of money to treat palm trees. The council will look at the infected trees and dispose of those that they can.They have advised residents to fumigate their own trees or have them cut down and the council will collect them and dispose of them.