Abstract
About 953000 individuals of the cosmopolitan parasitoid,Coccophagus scutellaris(Dalman) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), were released and evaluated during 2009-2010 for the control of the following soft scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae) infesting the following economic crops in Egypt:Ceroplastes ruscion citrus in Beni Seuf,Ceroplastes floridensisComstock on citrus in Gharbiya,Coccus hesperidumL. on guava in Giza,Pulvinaria floccifera(Westwood) on mango in Sharqiya,Pulvinaria psidiiMaskell on mango in Ismailia,Saissetia coffeae(Walker) on olive in Marsa Matruh, andSaissetia oleae(Oliver) on olive in the Northern Coast. The population ofC. scutellarisshowed a significant correlation with the build up of the population of the soft scale insects population in all of the release sites studied. The maximum rate of parasitism of the other species of parasitoids associated with soft scale insects at the release sites decreased after the release ofC. scutellaris.
Highlights
Soft scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae) constitute one of the most important groups of pests in agriculture
In Egypt, Priesner and Hosny [6] recorded this species associated with Coccus hesperidum L. and Pulvinaria floccifera (Westwood)
About 136,000 adults of C. scutellaris individuals were released during the period of 2009-2010 (Table 1)
Summary
Soft scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae) constitute one of the most important groups of pests in agriculture. The genus Coccophagus Westwood (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is cosmopolitan in distribution and is comprised of many of the most frequently encountered parasitoids of soft scales, several of which have been used in biological control programs [1]. Coccophagus scutellaris (Dalman) is a cosmopolitan parasitoid of various soft scale species [2] including Coccus longulus (Douglas) [3], Parasaissetia nigra (Nietner) and Parthenolecanium corni (Bouche) [4], Saissetia oleae (Oliver) and Ceroplastes floridensis (Comstock) [5] among other species. In Egypt, Priesner and Hosny [6] recorded this species associated with Coccus hesperidum L. and Pulvinaria floccifera (Westwood). Abd-Rabou [7] added Pulvinaria mesembryanthemi (Vallot) and Saissetia coffeae (Walker) as coccid hosts of this species in Egypt. Bodenheimer [8] and Abd-Rabou et al [9] recorded C. scutellaris as a common parasitoid of Coccus hesperidum and Ceroplastes floridensis
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