Life Cycle of Pseudospidoproctus hyphaniacus (Hall1925) under the Conditions of the Al Kufra City.

• Safya Saad bunkhila

  Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Benghazi, Al Kufra, Libya

  Author

Mealy-bug Pseudospidoproctus hyphaniacus (Hall1925) is (Homoptera, Coccoidea, Margarodidae). P. hyphaeniacus is found in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, India (Punjab), Iran, Libya,   The adult female moves like the nymph, and covered with soft cottony powdery or white waxy material, while male with one pair of wing, vestigial mouth parts, Male and female of coccids go through very different post-embryonic development, therefore, Date palm mealy bug feed on the petiole base but rarely found on the leaflets cause a great damage and both, adults and nymphs of this species secrete honeydew copiously on which black sooty mould grows, this insect pest (P. hyphaniacus) is monophagous. The life cycle of p. hyphaniacus was studied on mango and potatoes under room condition between January, February and March of 2017 with mean temperature and relative humidity of 15˚C and 28 % RH, one females layed 227 eggs by 2^nd February, 220 eggs hatched by 19^th  of March to give nymphs, which fail to produce the following nymphal stage and died in April. noted that this insect pest (P. hyphaniacus) is monophagous because it infests only date palms and no other hosts. In future, studies appropriate this insect pest and production management practices. The aims of the study are Determination of life cycle of Date palm mealy bug ( P-hyphnucus) under Al kufra condition.

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