Biological Control of Insect Pests: Southeast Asian Prospects - EcoPort

288 Biological Control of Insect Pests: Southeast Asian Prospects
Planococcus citri (Risso)
Rating
Origin
Distribution
Hemiptera, Pseudococcidae
citrus mealybug
This account draws heavily on that of Bartlett (1978) and CABI abstracts
since then.
.
Southeast Asia China Southern and Western Pacific
+++ Viet
7 ++ ++ 4
+ Thai, Msia, Brun,
+ Cook Is, PNG, Tong,
Indo
Sam
P Myan, Phil P Fr P, Niue
P. citri was described from citrus in southern France (Risso 1813), but
Bartlett (1978) speculates that it is of Chinese origin. However, the fact that
it is a widespread and important pest of citrus in 11 of the 14 provinces of
southern China casts some doubt on this view (Li Li-ying et al. 1997).
The citrus mealybug is extremely widespread, being present in almost all
tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of the world and in many
glasshouses in cooler parts. Other species of Planococcus have often been
confused with it, including P. pacificus (which does not occur in the
Mediterranean but is common in the Pacific: Cox 1981, 1989), P. ficus
(restricted to fig, pomegranate and grape in the Mediterranean: Tranfaglia
1979; Cox and Freeston 1985; Cox and Ben-Dov 1986) and P. kenyae (on
Coffea in Kenya: Le Pelley 1943a,b). However, their hymenopterous
parasitoids discriminate between P. citri and P. kenyae and biological
control fails when the incorrect parasites are used (Rosen and De Bach
1977). The collection data of Pacific specimens suggest that P. citri is a
recent introduction there (Williams 1982). There may well be different
strains of P. citri.
For example, in Brazil it is rarely found on citrus, but is
common on other plants (Compere 1939); and in South Africa it is common
on citrus, but seldom found on grape vines (De Lotto 1975).