الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The chaff scale, Parlatoria pergandei (Comstok); the citrus wax scale, Ceroplastes floridensis (Comst) and seychellarum mealybug, Icerya seychellarum (Westwood) are of great economic importance on several host plants. Insect population size and reproductive rate are connected with trophic relations (host plant). In order to achieve a successful biological control in any area, searching for the well established and most efficient biological agents should be involved. The natural enemies (predators and parasitoids) showed differences of their searching characteristics in response to host plant species. The present studies were carried at the experimental farm, faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University during the two seasons of 2010 and 2011 to evaluate the relation between host plants and both scale insects (p. pergandei, I. sechellarum and C. floridensis and their main natural enemies interactions. Also, some laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate the behavior of the scale insects and the main predators in response to host plant species. In addition, the behavior response of some predators to their prey extracts was investigated. |