Pheromone-Baited Traps for Assessment of Seasonal Activity and Population Densities of Mealybug Species (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in Nurseries Producing Ornamental Plants

Abstract

Operational parameters of traps baited with the pheromones of three mealybug species were optimized in nurseries producing ornamental plants. All pheromone doses (1-320 microg) attracted Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti) and Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret) males, with the lowest dose (1 microg) attracting the fewest males for both species. Doses of 3.2-100 microg were as attractive to male P. longispinus as the highest dose (320 microg); doses from 10 to 320 microg were equally attractive for P. viburni males. Lures containing 25-microg doses of either pheromone had effective field lifetimes of at least 12 wk. Experiments were performed to test the efficacy of combining multiple pheromones to attract several species of mealybugs simultaneously. Lures loaded with a mixture of the pheromones of P. longispinus, P. viburni, and Planococcus citri (Risso) were as attractive to P. viburni and P. citri as lures with their individual pheromones. Response of P. longispinus to the blend was decreased by 38% compared with its pheromone as a single component. A subsequent trial with two-component blends showed that the pheromone ofP. citri was responsible for this modest decrease in P. longispinus response. This should not affect the overall efficacy of using these lures for monitoring the presence of all three mealybug species simultaneously. Pheromone traps were used to detect infestations of P. longispinus throughout the season and to track population cycles. When pheromone-baited traps for P. longispinus were compared with manual sampling, trap counts of male mealybugs were significantly correlated with mealybugs counted on plants in the vicinity of the traps.

Chemistry of the pheromones of mealybug and scale insects

“…153 Conversely, eld trials with composite lures containing the pheromones of citrus, obscure, and longtailed mealybugs showed that there was minimal interference among these pheromones, suggesting that it may be possible to use "generic" mealybug lures that attract several species simultaneously. 154 This may be useful in crops that can be infested with several species simultaneously because the control measures are usually the same no matter what species is present.…”

“…Nevertheless, by judicious use of lower doses of pheromone to decrease the range of attraction of pheromone lures, in some cases it has been possible to develop good correlations between pheromone trap catches and infestation levels as determined by visual counts or other means. 24,154,158 The interested reader is referred to a more extensive discussion of the development of pheromone-baited traps for monitoring purposes. 3 Pheromones can be used to control insect populations in at least three ways: (1) disruption of mating by permeating the atmosphere of a crop with pheromone so that males cannot nd females, (2) mass trapping, in which sufficient numbers of pheromone-baited traps are deployed to remove a large percentage of males, and (3) attract-and-kill, in which pheromone is mixed with a toxicant in a matrix applied in multiple droplets throughout a crop, so that males that are attracted and contact the droplets are killed.…”

SEGUIMIENTO DE LA DINÁMICA POBLACIONAL DE Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) EN DOS TEMPORADAS EN UN HUERTO DE GRANADOS (Púnica granatum L.) EN CHILE CENTRAL

“…En la cavidad calicinal, formada a partir del cáliz de la flor, el chanchito blanco encuentra un refugio seguro en donde tiene alimento, un micro-ambiente favorable, y protección contra enemigos naturales y contra la aplicación de insecticidas. Varias investigaciones, a través de modelos lineales, han podido explicar la relación entre el sistema de trampeo y la presencia de pseudocóccidos o el porcentaje de daño a cosecha (Koplow, 2004;Nuñez, 2007;Geiger and Daane, 2001;Mudavanhu et al, 2011;Waterworth et al, 2011). Sin embargo, en el presente estudio en la segunda temporada la relación del porcentaje de infestación (90%) encontrado en los cartones ubicados a 120 cm de altura, con el porcentaje de infestación en frutos (100%) solo se pudo explicar con un modelo cuadrático.…”

Evaluation of the synthetic sex pheromone of the obscure mealybug, Pseudococcus viburni, as an attractant to conspecific males, and to females of the parasitoid Acerophagus maculipennis

“…However, higher (or lower) temperatures will result in faster (or slower) pheromone release (Beroza & Kydonieus, ), and so the release rates will vary with climate. Furthermore, the release profile from the red rubber septum lures used in New Zealand may differ from that of the grey septum lures typically used in California, USA (Millar et al., ; Waterworth et al., ), so the model could be further refined by taking into account real‐time temperatures and specific lures during a monitoring programme. The relative attractiveness of other types of lures could also be modelled and compared, especially those that release pheromone continuously at a constant rate (i.e., zero‐order dispensers).…”