The cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley 1898 (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is recorded from Saudi Arabia for the first time. This species was collected from heavily infested Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. (Malvaceae) from the city of At-Taif in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, the mealybug Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell, 1893), previously recorded in Saudi Arabia, was found on Plumeria rubra L. (Apocynaceae) and on Dodonaea viscosa Jacq. (Sapindaceae). Slide mounts were prepared and voucher specimens were preserved at the University of Jordan Insects Museum. Further surveys should be initiated to investigate the distribution and hosts of P. solenopsis in Saudi Arabia.
The horsefly (Diptera: Tabanidae) fauna of Jordan consists of 21 species belonging to seven genera. The present study adds 17 new records to this little-known group of haematophagous insects. Most of the new records were collected from several localities within the Jordan Valley. These new records are Chrysops flavipes Meigen, Atylotus farinosus (Szilády), Dasyrhamphis umbrinus (Meigen), Haematopota coronata Austen, Hybomitra decora (Loew), Hybomitra mendica (Villeneuve), Tabanus accensus Austen, T. albifacies Loew, T. bifarius Loew, T. darimonti Leclercq, T. laetetinctus Becker, T. leleani Austen, T. pallidipes Austen, T. regularis Jaennicke, T. rupinae Austen, T. sufis Jaennicke and Therioplectes tunicatus (Szilády). Tabanus albifacies and T. sufis were the most common species collected by hand nets (19.85% and 17.73%, respectively) and D. umbrinus, Haematopota minuscula Austen, and Haematopota coronata were the least common species (0.12% for each). Zoogeographical analysis of the recorded species showed that 12 species are of Mediterranean origin, four are of Afrotropical origin, two of European origin and at least three species can be considered as endemic to the Middle East.
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