Occurrence of Mites and Insects Associated with Date Palm Fruits in Different Governorates of Egypt

Abstract

The present study was conducted during four years (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016) to throw some light on the acarofauna and insects of the date palm fruits in different regions covered 9 Egyptian governorates differed in their ecological conditions. This study revealed the occurrence of 84 mite species differed in their feeding behavior infested different fruits, belonging to 51 genera and 25 families under four suborders.Suborder Astigmatawhich was represented by 21 different species belong to 11 genera and 4 families. The recorded families were Acaridae (13 species), Lardoglyphidae (one species), Glycyphagidae (6 species) and Pyroglyphidae (one species). Suborder Prostigmata was represented in this study by 38 mite species belonging to 26 genera in 11 families: Tydeidae (12 species), Cheyletidae (12 species), Cunaxidae (3 species), Stigmaeidae, Camerobiidae and Rhagididae (2 species for each), Pyemotidae, Caligonellidae, Bdellidae, Eupodidae, and Tarsonemidae (one species for each). On the other hand, the mesostigmatid mites were represented by 22 mite species belonging to 12 genera in 9 families and the most common family was Ascidae represented by 12 mite species. The cryptostigmatids in this study includedthree mite species belong to Family Oribatidae. The obtained results indicated that the fallen fruits harbored the most abundant mites (53), followed by stored fruits with 34 mites and fresh fruits infested by 18 species. The study showed that there were two mite species associated with residue fruits on the tree, while the Agwa product included one mite only. Regarding the different study regions, it was found that El-Menofia governorate included 47 different mites, followed by El-Behira governorate which harbored 38 mites, Giza governorate with 17 mites, El-Dakahlia (14 species), El-Sharkia (7 species) and Damietta (6 species), Beni Suief (3 species), Sohag (5 species) and Cairo (3 species). In this study, 12 insect species in 3 orders and 8 families are listed as important pests of date palm fruits during different times. The most abundant family was Nitidulidae (5 species), as the rest collected families were represented by one species for each. The stored date fruits were attacked by Carpophilus hemipterus, Carpophilus mutilatus, Coccotrypes dactyliperda, Oryzaephilus surinamensis, Lasioderma serricorm, and Tribolium confusum. While, the fallen fruits were infested by C. hemipterus, C. immaculatus, C. mutilatus, C. dimidiatus, Carpophilus sp., Coccotrypes dactyliperda, and Lasioderma serricorm. On the other hand, L. serricorm, Fannia incisurata, Tetrastichus sp. and Pteromalus sp. were observed associated with the fresh date fruits. The most common insects in this study were C. hemipterus, C. mutilatus and T. confusum, as they appeared on infested fruits during all study periods with very high abundance, while C. dactyliperda was least abundant insect.