Clitostethus arcuatus (Rossi)
Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Holometabola, Coleoptera, Coccinellidae.
Common name: None.
Geographic distribution: The Palaearctic region
Morphology: The elytra are mostly brown with two black half-moon, c-like markings; thorax partially white, eyes black. Larvae whitish, with many sticky hairs along the body, posterior segments dark-brown.
Life history: Each females produces about 200 eggs, depending on the prey, which has a significant effect on the fecundity and other biological activities of this predator. Both its larvae and adults feed almost exclusively on the eggs, larvae, pupae and adults of whiteflies. The calculated threshold of development is around 8°C and 295 day degrees are required to complete a generation. The predator raises 4 annual generation in the field, where adults may live for 3-4 months.
Economic importance: Clitostethus arcuatus is a major biological control agent of various major whitefly pests that infest different crops in several Middle Eastern countries.
References
Abd-Rabou, S. 2006. Biological control of the pomegranate whitefly, Siphoninus phillyreae (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae: Aleyrodinae) by using the bioagent, Clitostethus arcuatus (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). Journal of Entomologyy 3: 331-335.
Mesbah, A.H. 2000. Development and efficiency of Clitostethus arcuatus (Col.: Coccinellidae) predated on Siphoninus phillyreae (Hom., Aleurodidae). Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control 10: 123-127.
Metwally, S.M., El-Heneidy, A.H, Shenishen, Z., Boraei, H.A. and Mesbah, A.H. 1999. Clitostethus arcuatus (Rossi) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), a predator species, of the citrus whitefly, Dialeurodes citri (Ashm.) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) in Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control 9: 61-66.
Mota, J.A., Soares, A.O. and Garcia, P.V. 2008. Temperature dependence for development of the whitefly predator Clitostethus arcuatus (Rossi). BioControl 53: 603–613.
Tavadjoh, Z., Hamzehzarghani, H., Alemansoor, H., Khalghani, J. and Vikram A. 2010. Biology and feeding behaviour of ladybird, Clitostethus arcuatus, the predator of the ash whitefly, Siphoninus phillyreae, in Fars Province, Iran. Journal of Insect Science 10:120.
Yazdani, M. and Zarabi, M. 2010. Predation of Clitostethus arcuatus (Col.: Coccinellidae) on Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Hem.: Aleyrodidae). Biocontrol Science and Technology 20: 353-358.
Yazdani, M. and Zarabi, M. 2011. The effect of diet on longevity, fecundity, and the sex ratio of _Clitostethus arcuatus _(Rossi) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology 14: 349–352.
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