Settlement of armoured scale insects on fruit of commercial Actinidia spp

Abstract

The proportion of greedy (Hemiberlesia rapax) and latania (H lataniae) scale insect crawlers (Hemiptera Diaspididae) that settled on fruit of commercial kiwifruit cultivars Actinidia arguta cv K2D4 A chinensis cv Hort16A and A deliciosa cv Hayward was quantified at intervals from 20 to 100 final fruit size In all three cultivars the proportion of settled crawlers increased as the fruit matured The settlement of greedy scale was greater than latania on Hort16A fruit with minimal differences between scale species on other cultivars Comparisons of scale settlement with scale phenology found fruit of K2D4 was vulnerable to settlement from the first summer generation with secondgeneration scale mainly infesting Hayward fruit Hort16A fruit can be infested by both generations Implications of these findings for the pest status of scale insects and customisation of the industry pestmonitoring system (KiwiGreen) for new varieties are discussed