Detection and Characterisation of Endosymbiont (Rickettsiales: Anaplasmataceae) in (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea), Pollinating Agent of Oil Palm, and Its Relationships between Populations.

is the most efficient pollinator of oil palm. is an endosymbiotic bacteria associated with that has a potential to affect the fecundity and fitness of the . Despite their importance, no studies have been conducted to investigate its prevalence in . The objectives of this study were to detect and characterise in and determine the phylogenetic relationship of strains that infect by using three genetic markers namely Filamenting temperature-sensitive mutant Z (), Chaperonin folding protein (), and Citrate Synthase Coding Gene (). DNA was extracted from 210 individuals of and the infections were detected using the marker. The infected samples ( = 25, 11.9%) were then sequenced using and markers for strain characterization. In this study, a combination of four markers was used to construct the phylogeny of . Similar topologies were shown in all trees; Neighbour-Joining (NJ), Maximum Parsimony (MP), and Bayesian Inference (BI), which showed the mixing of individuals that harbor between populations. Interestingly, on was claded together with the species under supergroup B. This is the first report of infecting which is very valuable and significant as one of the parameters to evaluate the quality of the population for sustaining its function as a great pollinator for oil palm.