Abstract
The red pumpkin beetle has been found to be widely distributed throughout all zoogeographic regions of the world except the Neoarctic and Neotropical regions and all over the South-East Asia, Africa, Mediterranean region towards the west and Australia in the East. It was also found to occur in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afganistan, Ceylon, Burma, Indo-China, Iraq, Iran, Persia, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, Israel, South Europe, Algeria, Egypt, Cyprus and the Andaman Island. The red pumpkin beetle has been found to be abundant in April and May. The highest incidence of the red pumpkin beetle was found to appear at around 9 am. The highest incidence of red pumpkin beetle was recorded on muskmelon, which was followed by sweet gourd and cucumber at seedling, vegetative and reproductive stages of cucurbit plants. Cucurbits, sweet potato and some legumes were found to be the hosts of this beetle. Among all hosts, sweet gourd and muskmelon were found to be the most preferred hosts followed by cucumber and khira while bitter gourd, snake gourd, sponge gourd and ribbed gourd were found to be least or non-preferred hosts by the red pumpkin beetle. It was found to cause damage up to 35-75% on cotyledons at seedling stage, around 70% on leaves and 60% on flowers by making irregular holes on infested plant parts.
Highlights
Cucurbits are the most widely grown and important crops in the tropical and subtropical countries of the world
The maximum number of red pumpkin beetle was recorded in muskmelon at seedling stage and population was 3.75 per plant and lowest was in snake gourd, 0.25
The highest incidence of red pumpkin beetle was recorded on muskmelon, which was followed by sweet gourd and cucumber at seedling, vegetative and reproductive stages of cucurbit plants
Summary
Cucurbits are the most widely grown and important crops in the tropical and subtropical countries of the world. The pumpkin beetles Aulacophora atripennis (blue), A. cincta (yellow with black border), A. intermedia, and Raphidopalpa foveicollis (red) are very common on cucurbitaceous plants [9]. Both the adults and the grubs of red pumpkin beetle cause considerable damage to cucurbits during all stages of plant growth. Adults feed on the leaves, flowers and in some cases on fruits, while grubs attack the roots, underground stem and leaves closely touch with soil, thereby lowering the yield substantially This attempt was undertaken to review the distribution, incidence, host preference and damage severity of red pumpkin beetle
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