Host plants, geographical distribution, natural enemies and biological studies of the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

The citrus mealy bug, Planococcus citri
(Risso) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is attacks many host plants including all orchard
trees in Egypt.
The aim of this work is to study the survey of host plants, geographical
distribution and natural enemies of the citrus mealy bug, P.citri in Egypt as well
as the biological studies of this pest on
citrus, grape and guava. The results indicated that the citrus mealy
bug infested 65 plant species belonging to 56 genera in 36 families and
distributed in 20 governorates. Twelve species of parasitoids were collected
and recorded one of them is new record. This is Leptomastix abnormis
Girault (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Also nine species of predators recorded here
attacked P.citri. The results also observed the host plants and
temperatures greatly influenced on the development of P. citri. The
lowering of the temperature increased the dimension of the mealy bug and
lengthened the developmental period.  The
results on citrus, guava and grape showed that the life cycle of P. citri
at 30oC were 21.4±2.45, 32.6±2.44 and 38.8±1.56 days, respectively.
These results indicated that P. citri preferes citrus followed by guava
and grape.

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