Biology of the conifer needle scale, Nuculaspis abietis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), in northern Iran and parasitism by Aspidiotiphagus citrinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)

Title:

Biology of the conifer needle scale, Nuculaspis abietis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), in northern Iran and parasitism by Aspidiotiphagus citrinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)

Creator:

Rasekh, Arash, Michaud, J. P., and Varandi, Hassan Barimani

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:c087510e-b796-4caa-b355-9dc29ec7a866
uuid:c087510e-b796-4caa-b355-9dc29ec7a866

Subject:

Zoologie, entomologie, Írán, Iran, Nuculaspis abietis, Diaspididae, Hemiptera, Aspidiotiphagus citrinus, Aphelinidae, Hymenoptera, Picea abies, Norway spruce, development, host range, parasitism, 2, and 59

Type:

article, články, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

The conifer needle scale, Nuculaspis abietis (Schrank) emerged as an important pest of conifers in the Kelardasht region of Mazandaran province, Iran, in the late 1990's. This pest feeds on conifer needles and twigs causing needle drop and branch desiccation. Its discovery in Kelardasht in Mazandaran Province necessitated a local quarantine of conifers in the genera Picea, Abies, and Pinus. We studied the life history and ecology of this scale on Norway spruce, Picea abies, under laboratory and natural field conditions. The complete life cycle of females required 206.4 ± 5.7 days in the laboratory (25 ± 1°C, 65-75% RH, 14L : 10D) and 315.7 ± 9.3 days under field conditions. In Kelardasht, numbers of adult males and females peaked in mid-June and early May, respectively, and numbers of first and second instar nymphs in mid-July and early September. Lifetime fecundity was estimated to be 57.3 ± 5.1 eggs and 54.0 ± 4.4 nymphs per female under laboratory conditions. The sex ratio ranged from 59% female for second instar nymphs to 71% female for adults. Aspidiotiphagus citrinus (Crawford) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) was found naturally parasitizing the scale and overwintering in the larval stage on second instar nymphs. First generation adult wasps emerged in spring from overwintered second instar nymphs to parasitize 64.75% of first instar scales. Second generation wasps emerged from early September to mid-October and parasitized 19.75% of second instar scales, for a cumulative parasitism rate of 84.5%. and Arash RASEKH, J.P. MICHAUD, Hassan BARIMANI VARANDI.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2011 Volume:108 | Number:1

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false