Abstract

There are many top-quality,prestigious teas cultivated and processed in the Southern Jiangshu Province,China;however,serious damages to tea plants caused by various pests occur frequently in the region.In order to better understand the insect community structures and their phototaxis,we tested 12 colors(pure white,peach red,dark green,apple green,lake blue,sky blue,jasmine yellow,bud green,earth yellow,orange,bright red and purple) of sticky plates in a non-pollution tea plantation at Danyang City during late fall in 2012.The trapping results showed that: 1) within the 4 days trapping period,in total of 30455 individuals of 85 insect species belonged to 7 orders were caught,with Homoptera(86.5% of total individuals) being the most dominant order group,followed by Hymenoptera(8.8%) and Diptera(2.5%);2) the tea aphid and the tea green leafhopper were the two most dominant pest insect species,accounting for 71.5% and 15% of the total individuals,respectively;3) the Chinese honey bees were the major beneficial insects captured,accounting for 8.2% of the total individuals;4) in addition,a total of 1034 individuals of other beneficial insects(natural enemies) were caught,including 582 green lacewings(e.g.Chrysopa sinica Tjedea,Chrysopa septempunctata Wesmeal and Chrysopa formosa Branar),111 tachinids(Exorista civilis Rondani,Crossocosmia zebina Walk,Exorista sorbillans Wiedemann,plus three other species),110 hoverflies(Sphaerophoria menthastri L.,Syrphus balteatus De Geer,Syrphus corolla F.,Paraqus guadifasciatus Meigen,Syrphus serarius Wiedemann,Leucopis puncticornis Meigen plus two other species),97 braconids with Apanteles spp.being the dominant species,40 ichneumons(Itoplectis naranyae(Ashmead),Gotra octocinctus(Ashmead) and other three species) and 32 ladybeetles with Leis axyridis(Pallas) and Coelophora saucia Mulsant being the major species.5) Bud green,jasmine yellow and orange sticky plates captured significantly higher numbers of the tea green leafhoppers and the tea aphids;bud green and jasmine yellow sticky plates were also strongly attractive to ichneumons and braconids;bud green,earth yellow and apple green sticky plates attracted lacewings;apple green,sky blue and purple sticky plates trapped many flies and mosquitoes.The numbers of insect species captured were highest on the Jasmine yellow sticky plates,whereas the highest diversity index of various groups of trapped insects was detected on the pure white plates,indicating its broad generic attraction to diverse groups of insects.In late fall,knowing the species richness and the abundance of overwintering pest and beneficial insects,the beneficial/pest ratios,and the dominant pest and beneficial insect species and their population levels,as well as their differential phototaxis behaviors would help tea farmers better preparing and executing their environmentally safe pest control measures for efficiently reducing overwintering pest population density,before the field season is over.

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