Biological Control of Insect Pests: Southeast Asian Prospects - EcoPort

110 Biological Control of Insect Pests: Southeast Asian Prospects
papers by Sengupta and Behura (1955, 1957) and Sengupta and Misra
(1956). It was also reported, briefly, by Nair (1975) and, in more detail, by
Butani (1979). Strangely, the above Sengupta and Behura (1955) reference
lists D. albizonalis among new records of crop pests in Orissa and then only
of grafted mangoes in Puri District, implying that it was not known much
earlier there as a damaging species. Furthermore, only recently
(Zaheruddeen and Sujatha 1993) was D. sublimbalis recorded as having
caused serious losses to mango fruits from marble size to maturity in
Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Although a specimen was collected in Rangoon in 1923 (BMNH),
D. sublimbalis was not listed by Ghosh (1940) in his major work ÔInsect
Pests of BurmaÕ or by Yunus and Ho (1980) in Malaysia when dealing with
economic pests from 1920 to 1978. This striking absence of records from
peninsular Malaysia continues to this day (Tan Chai-lin pers. comm. 1997).
Nevertheless, D. sublimbalis has been well known in Thailand since 1936
(Beller and Bhenchitr 1936; Cantelo and Pholboon 1965; Wongsiri 1991;
Kuroko and Lewvanich 1993).
In the Philippines it was not recorded by Cendana et al. (1984) in ÔInsect
Pests of Fruit Plants in the PhilippinesÕ, so it was evidently not generally
regarded as a pest at that time, although a paper recording 40 to 50% damage
in bad years had been delivered 5 years earlier (Tipon 1979). A
comprehensive account of up to 12.5% infestation of fruit in Guimaras
Province was published in 1991 by Golez (1991a,b).
In contrast, in Indonesia it was present prior to 1899 (Snellen 1899) and
has been well known as a mango pest since 1930 (Leefmans and van der
Vecht 1930). Its damaging presence there is also documented by Vote
(1936) and Kalshoven (1981).
D. sublimbalis has been known in Irian Jaya since 1936 (BMNH
specimen) and was common in mangoes in Jayapura in the early nineties
(T.L. Fenner pers. comm. 1997). It was collected in Papua New Guinea
(Kokoda) in 1933 (BMNH specimen) and was recorded again in 1958, 1959
and 1963 (ANIC specimens) and is common nowadays in Port Moresby. It
was first recorded on Australian islands in Torres Strait (Saibai I) in 1990
and again in October 1996 (at a level of about 1% infestation on Dauan I)
(Australian Quarantine Inspection Service).