Insect fauna of pests and their natural enemies inhabiting sorghum-panicles in Egypt

Abstract

Sorghum panicles offer a very rich microenvironment for many insect pest species and their natural enemies. Thirty arthropod species belonging to 28 families, pertaining to 9 orders were obtained from sorghum panicles planted in Sohag Governorate, Egypt, during the 3 successive seasons of 2016–2018. Out of these species were 14 pests, 16 predators, and 3 parasitoids. Lepidopteran and hemipteran pests were the most dominant species-infested sorghum-panicles during the mature stages of the panicles. Three microlepidopteran pests, the noctuid, Eublemma (Autoba) gayneri (Roth.); the pyralid, Cryptoblabes gnidiella Millière, and the cosmopterigid, Pyroderces simplex Walsingham, were recorded as major pest species infesting sorghum panicles in Sohag Governorate. The dipteran parasitoid species, Nemorilla floralis (Fallen) (Tachinidae) emerged from the pupae of the E. gayneri and C. gnidiella, while the hymenopteran parasitoid, Brachymeria aegyptiaca (Chalcididae) was obtained from the pupae of all the studied microlepidopteran pests. Spiders, coccinellids, and Orius spp. were the dominant predators collected form panicles. Post-harvest, larvae, and pupae of lepidopteran pests, especially P. simplex recorded (147, 96, and 79 larvae) and (47, 30, and 73 pupae)/10 panicles in 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons, respectively.