Transpacific coalescent pathways of coconut rhinoceros beetle biotypes: resistance to biological control catalyzes resurgence of an old pest

Biological control agents have several advantages over chemical control for pest management, including the capability to restore ecosystem balance with minimal non-target effects and a lower propensity for targets to develop resistance. These factors are particularly important in the invasive species control. The coconut rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros Linnaeus) is a major palm pest that invaded many Pacific islands in the early 20th century through human-mediated dispersal. Application of the Oryctes nudivirus in the 1960’s successfully halted the beetle’s first invasion wave and made it a textbook example of successful biological control. However, a recently discovered O. rhinoceros biotype that is resistant to the nudivirus appears to be correlated with a new invasion wave. We performed a population genomics analysis of 172 O. rhinoceros from seven regions, including native and invasive populations, to reconstruct invasion pathways and explore correlation between recent invasio...