BIO-ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF FEW SPECIES OF APHIS LINN. IN NORTHEAST BIHAR AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH FOOD PLANTS AND NATURAL ENEMIES FOR POSSIBLE USE IN THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

Abstract

Aphids are small, soft bodied, polyphagic and polymorphic sap sucking insects. During the extensive survey of different localities of 10 districts of northeast Bihar in different seasons, 41 species of aphids were recorded on more than 122 plant species belong to 35 families. Among these, only 09 species of Aphis viz., Aphis affinis Del Guercio, Aphis craccivora Koch, Aphis fabae Scopoli, Aphis glycine Matsumura, Aphis gossypii Glover, Aphis nasturtii Kaltenbach, Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe, Aphis puniceae Passerini and Aphis spiraecola Patch were recorded in the target area. The maximum number of plants were infested by A. gossypii (46 plants), followed by A. craccivora (36 plants), A. nasturtii (18 plants) and A. spiraecola (18 plants). Six species of coccinellids (Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius), Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, Coccinella transversalis Fabricius, Micraspis discolor (Fabricius), Pseudospidimerus circumflexa var. testaceus (Weise) and Scymnus pyrocheilus (Mulsant) and six species of syrphid predators (Allograpta javana (Wiedemann), Asarkina ericetorum (Fabricius), Episyrphus balteatus (DeGeer), Ischiodon scutellaris (Fabricius), Melanostoma orientale (Wiedemann) and Paragus serratus (Fabricius)) were recorded on Aphis spp. in the target area. Seven species of parasitoids viz, Aphelinus albipodus Fatima & Hayat, Aphelinus basilicas Fatima & Hayat, Aphelinus gossypii Timberlake, Aphelinus sp., Aphidius sp., Binodoxys indicus Subba Rao & Sharma and Lipolexis oregmae (=scutellaris) (Gahan) were also recorded on Aphis spp. in the target area. Six species of predators (C. sexmaculata, C. septempunctata, C. transversalis, E. balteatus, I. scutellaris and P. serratus) and three species of the parasitoids (A. gossypii, B. indicus and L. oregmae) were found abundantly on Aphis spp. in the target area and may be utilised in the biological control programme after further study