Population Density of the Striped Mealybug Ferrisia virgata (Ckll.) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) on the Ornamental Corn Shrubs, Dracena fragrans in Relation to Biotic and Abiotic Factors in Al-Zohria Gardens, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

The striped mealybug Ferrisia virgata (Ckll.) (Hemiptera: Pseudococidae) attacks many host plants including shrubs and trees in Egypt. The aim of this work is to study the population densities of striped mealybug and the effect of biotic and abiotic factors on the insect population and the preferable direction for the insect stages on ornamental corn shrubs, Dracena fragrans in Al-Zohria gardens at Cairo during two successive years (2014-2015) (2015-2016). The results showed that the highest number of F. virgata insects occurred during Sep. in the first year, while it occurred during Nov. in the second year, with average (93.5 and 42.1 insect / sample) in the first and second years respectively. The general mean number of F. virgata has of 24.7 during the first year while it was 16.6 in the second year of investigation. The results showed that the insect population was highest in autumn with average (64.3 and 44.6 insect/ sample) in the first and second year respectively, whereas the lowest mean was in spring (2.7 and 1.5 insect / sample) during the two successive years. The data revealed insignificant relation between daily maximum, range and minimum of temperature and natural enemies on population activity. On the other hand the relation between the relative humidity and the population activities was highly significant positive correlation in both two years. In respect to preferable direction, results showed that the northeastern direction was the preferable direction for the population activity in the both years of the study.

The Striped Mealybug Ferrisia virgata (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)Monitoring and Population Dispersion on Acalypha Shrubs and its Control in Luxor Region, Egypt

“…Significant increases in estimates of F. virgata were observed on October 15, November 1, August 15, September 1, and 15, throughout the year, for which rates of change were higher than one, which shows that climatic factors at these times were appropriate for F. virgata activity and growth. These results are consistent with Ata et al (2019) who mentioned that the maximum numbers of F. virgata were observed in September 2014/2015, however, it occurred in November in 2015/2016. Nabil et al (2020) reported that the F. virgata estimates disappeared during the winter and spring until the summer of the following year.…”

“…damage) had two peaks that occurred on September 15 and November 1 annually, as shown in Tables (1 and 2) and Figures (2 and 3 Regarding the seasonal population of F. virgata each year, based on the surveyed data, the highest overall population density and damage development of F. virgata were also recorded on November 1 st of each year. According to the researchers' findings, there are two annual peaks of F. virgata, depending on the The Striped Mealybug Ferrisia virgata (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)… location and host plant (El-Shazly, 2006;Balboul, 2003;Ata et al, 2019;Nabil et al, 2020).…”

“…Among them, the striped mealybug Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell) (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae), which observed to be favorable pest for the acalypha (Nabil et al, 2020). This mealybug is a highly polyphagous pest attack approximately 203 host plant genera of 77 families (Balboul, 2003;Garcia et al, 2015;Ata et al, 2019).…”

Population Dynamics of Two Mealybug Species, Ferrisia Virgata Cockerell and Maconellicoccus Hirsutis Green (Pseudococcidae: Homoptera) Associated With Grapevine in Fayoum Governorate- Egypt

“…(Ata et al, 2019) who mentioned that the striped mealybug F. virgata showed its highest population in Sep. and Nov. throughout two successive years in Egypt on corn shrubs, Dracena fragrans.F. virgata density on Dahlia pinnata(Dawood, 1971); Lantana camara (Abd El-Said, 1997) and Nerium oleander (El-Shazly, 2006) showing two annual peaks; the 1 st appeared around Jul.…”