Monday, December 10, 2001 - 10:36 AM
0234

Vine mealybug, a new pest in San Joaquin Valley

Raksha Malakar-Kuenen1, Kent M. Daane1, and Walt J. Bentley2. (1) University of California, Berkeley, ESPM, Division of Insect Biology, Kearney Agricultural Center, 9240 S. Riverbend Avenue, Parlier, CA, (2) University of California, Kearney Agricultural Center, Entomology, 9240 S. Riverbend Avenue, Parlier, CA

Vine mealybug is a newly introduced pest of grapes in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV). We studied the population dynamics of vine mealybugs in raisin and table grapes. There were 5-6 generations of mealybugs per year. Anagyrus pseudococci parasitized almost 90% of the mealybugs by the harvest time. However, such percent parasitism rate in Coachella Valley is much lower than in SJV, perhaps this must be due to a longer host exposure time to A. pseudococci in SJV.

Species 1: Homoptera Pseudococcidae Planococcus ficus (vine mealybug)
Species 2: Hymenoptera Encyrtidae Anagyrus pseudococci
Keywords: biological control, population dynamics

The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA