INVERTEBRATES INHABITING CULINARY HERBS GROWN UNDER COVER

Abstract

Abstract The study contains the list of invertebrates collected from culinary herbs (Allium schoenoprasum, Anethum graveolens, Anthriscus sp., Petroselinum crispum, Coriandrum sativum, Artemisia dracunculus, Eruca sativa, Melissa officinalis, Mentha arvensis, Mentha xpiperita, Ocimum basilicum, Origanum majorana, Origanum vulgare, Salvia officinalis, Thymus vulgaris, Rosmarinus sp.) in greenhouses, under plastic-film covers, and at mother farms. The study provides information about the times of the year when these invertebrates settle on the herbs, and about the specific character of cultivating such plants. Even a few individual arthropods on culinary herbs cannot be tolerated and eliminating arthropods by using chemicals is unacceptable. For these reasons, those plants on which the arthropods have settled must be removed from greenhouses and destroyed. Biological pest control is also recommended. Some species of the observed invertebrates are encountered in a greenhouse year-round (Myzus persicae, Aphis gossypii, Ovatus mentharius, Aulacorthum solani, Eupteryx sp., Trialeurodes vaporariorun, larvae of Thysanoptera) while others appear only during the periods of spring migrations (Cavariella aegopodi) or autumn migrations (Aphis fabae, Dysaphis crataegii, butterflies from the subfamily Hadeninae). Peppermint had already been inhabited by O. mentharius on mother farms, and O. mentharius probably hibernated on farms as well. Potted peppermint seedlings brought from mother farms to greenhouses had already been inhabited by that aphid species. Some invertebrates were associated with a substrate (Sciaridae) while the appearance of others coincided with the development of algae (Ephydridae: Scatella sp.).