Outbreak of oriental yellow scale insect, Aonidiella orientalis (Newstead) (Homoptera: Diaspididae), on neem in Sudan

Abstract

Scale insects were observed in neem trees (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) planted in Shambatarea near the bank of the Nile in Khartoum State and along Blue Nile Street in Wad Medani, Gezira State, Sudan in October 2014. Specimens of neem leaves and twigs, which were highly infested with scale insects and showing signs of wilting, were collected from different parts of the tree canopies and sent to the Insect Collection Unit at the Agricultural Research Corporation, Gezira Research Station, Sudan for identification. The pest was morphologically identified as Aonidiella orientalis (Newstead) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae). An endoparasitoid was observed to emerge from the scale insect and was identified as an encyrtid wasp. Aonidiella orientalis had been recorded previously in Shambatarea in 1969 and this paper presents the results of surveys carried out following the initial observations in Khartoum and Gezira States. This was a major outbreak, affecting the majority of the 1685 surveyed neem trees and causing damage on 62.7% of them.