Host plants, geographical distribution, natural enemies and biological studies of the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Abstract

The citrus mealy bug, Planococcus citri (Risso) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is attacks many host plants including all orchard trees in Egypt. The aim of this work is to study the survey of host plants, geographical distribution and natural enemies of the citrus mealy bug, P.citri in Egypt as well as the biological studies of this pest on citrus, grape and guava. The results indicated that the citrus mealy bug infested 65 plant species belonging to 56 genera in 36 families and distributed in 20 governorates. Twelve species of parasitoids were collected and recorded one of them is new record. This is Leptomastix abnormis Girault (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Also nine species of predators recorded here attacked P.citri. The results also observed the host plants and temperatures greatly influenced on the development of P. citri. The lowering of the temperature increased the dimension of the mealy bug and lengthened the developmental period. The results on citrus, guava and grape showed that the life cycle of P. citri at 30 o C were 21.4±2.45, 32.6±2.44 and 38.8±1.56 days, respectively. These results indicated that P. citri preferes citrus followed by guava and grape.