Abstract
Forest area of Turkey is 22.6 million hectares, which constitutes 28.8% of the overall land area. 47% of the forests is coniferous, 32% is broad-leaved tree species and 21% mixed species. The Scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) are cryptic and mostly invisible insects which are mostly small less than 5 mm long. Many scale insects are economically important pests of agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. Around 400 scale insect species are known in Turkey, totally 119 Coccoidea species are fed on forest trees and shrubs; among 45 species of them on conifers and 74 species on broad-leaves trees and shrubs. Marchalina hellenica Gennadius (Marchalinidae) is a famous and economically important species that resourced honeydew honey called “pine honey”. This study examines scale insects, their distribution, host plants, natural enemies, damages, and role of forest biodiversity in Turkey.
Highlights
The total forest area of Turkey is 22,342,935 hectares and it consists of 29% of the country (TOD, 2019)
Forests are generally located on mountainous areas and they are usually natural and semi-natural with high biodiversity value
Most of the studies which examine mostly host plants and distribution of scale insects occurring on forest areas in Turkey
Summary
The total forest area of Turkey is 22,342,935 hectares and it consists of 29% of the country (TOD, 2019). Turkey has 9000 plant species of which 3649 (31.8%) is endemic (FAO, 2019) Most of these plants are located in forest areas. Main tree species of the Turkey forest are oaks (26.25%), Turkish pine (25.13%), Crimaen pine (19.02%), beech (8.55%), Scots pine (6.80%), juniper (4.29%), cedar (2.16%), fir (2.62%) and spruce trees (1.45%). These plants occur as pure stand or mix stand in forests (Anonymous, 2019). Feeding by these insects may cause discoloration and disfiguration and gall formations They are often cryptic in habit and mostly small size (less than 5 mm long) undetectable until plant damage is substantial. They are economically important pests of agriculture, horticulture and forest plants (Kosztarab and Kozar, 1988)
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