Ecological studies of Aulacaspis tubercularis (Diaspididae: Hemiptera) and its nat-ural enemies infesting mango trees in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt.

Abstract

Ecological studies of Aulacaspis tubercularis (Newstead) (Diaspididae: Hemip-tera) and its natural enemies were carried out during two successive years (2007-2008 and 2008-2009) in Inshas El-Raml district, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. The obtained results revealed that the total number of alive stages had one peak of activity yearly in both top and bottom levels of the trees. Aphytis sp. and Encarsia sp. (Aphelinidae), Habrolepis diaspidi (Risbec) (Encyrtidae) were recorded as parasitoids of A. tubercu-laris. Cybocephalus micans Reitter (Order: Nitidulidae) was recorded as predator of A. tubercularis. The total effects of a biotic factors (Temperature ºC, Relative humidity RH% and Light intensity Lux) under this study on the total numbers of alive stages of the pest during the two years were 63.19 and 40.20 % in the top level and 77.66 and 39.44 % in the bottom one, successively. The pest activity appeared three annual generations in either the top and bottom levels of mango trees.