SCALE INSECT BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR: Poster abstract OBSERVATIONS ON THE POPULATION DEVELOPMENT OF PSEUDAULACASPIS PENTAGONA (HEMIPTERA: COCCOIDEA: DIASPIDIDAE) UNDER SEMI-FIELD CONDITIONS IN THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF TURKEY

Abstract

Populations of Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni Tozzetti) were observed on naturally infested young peach trees (cv. ‘June Gold’), kept in 2x2x2m cages covered in cheese cloth under semi-field conditions. Overwintering adult females were marked (1x2.5cm) on the plants with special glue (Tangle Trap). Both the number of crawlers produced by each female and the duration of each development stage were recorded. In each generation, 35 females were observed. P. pentagona had four generations a year and the first crawlers appeared from overwintered females at the beginning of April. The first generation was completed in May, the second in July, the third in August and the fourth in September. The duration of each generation was found to vary significantly in relation to temperature, with the first generation taking the longest (71.6 days) and the second generation the shortest (61.2 days). The number of crawlers produced by each generation was also found to vary significantly. The greatest number of crawlers (99.4 crawlers per female) was produced by the overwintering females and the lowest number of crawlers (17.9 crawlers per female) by the fourth generation.