Ecological and Biological Studies on the Citrus Flower Moth, Prays citri (Millière) (Lepidoptera: Hyponomeutidae).

Abstract

The present investigation indicated that the citrus flower moth, Prays citri (Milliere) showed that differences in their response to host plant species. However, P. citri population greatly preferred lime over navel orange and mandarin. Lime flowers received the highest numbers of P. citri throughout the whole period of investigation, while no infestation occurred on mandarin. Navel orange flowers were of intermediate rank for P. citri population. The obtained results illustrated that both larval and pupal populations exhibited one peak of seasonal abundance during 2015 and 2016 seasons. Distribution of P. citri population within host plants, based on the analysis of variance, was affected by directions. However, P. citri population was significantly higher at the south direction than the other cardinal directions (north, west and east) and center of the canopies. The present study showed that P. citri population exhibited positive response to the increase of mean temperature, while, it showed negative response to both relative humidity and wind speed. No significant differences were observed between the duration periods of all developmental stages which reared on different host (lime, navel orange and mandarin) flowers. Analysis of life table of P. citri population indicated that mortality of larval stage is the Key-stage mortality, which can induce population changes comparing to other specific stage mortalities.