LIFE TABLES OF LEPIDOSAPHES ULMI (L.) AND PALAEOLECANIUM BITUBERCULATUM (TARGIONI TOZZETTI) (HEMIPTERA: COCCOIDEA) ON APPLE TREES IN VAN PROVINCE, TURKEY

Abstract

LIFE TABLES OF LEPIDOSAPHES ULMI (L.) AND PALAEOLECANIUM BITUBERCULATUM (TARGIONI TOZZETTI) (HEMIPTERA: COCCOIDEA) ON APPLE TREES IN VAN PROVINCE, TURKEY.

Apples are the most important cultivated crop in Van Province in Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey, where Lepidosaphes ulmi (L.) and Palaeolecanium bituberculatum (Targioni Tozzetti) (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) are amongst the most economically important pest species. Life-table data were collected in the field for these two species in two different apple orchards. The development time for each stage was recorded once a month in the Winter and every fortnight during the Spring, Summer and Autumn. In each orchard, both shoots and leaves of five randomly selected trees were sampled and each stage of the two scale species was counted. The life-table data were analyzed with regard to the age of the insects and the season, and it was found that L. ulmi and P. bituberculatum had one generation a year. Of several mortality factors, parasitisation was the most important (25.8% for L. ulmi and 23.8% for P. bituberculatum).

Key words: Aphytis mytilaspidis, aphelinid, Coccophagus palaeolecanii.