Acaudaleyrodes rachipora (Singh)
(Formerly known as Acaudaleyrodes citri (Priesner & Hosny))
Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Hemimetabola, Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Aleyrodidae.
Common name: Babul whitefly, citrus black whitefly.
Geographic Distribution: Africa, Mediterranean region, Saudi Arabia, India.
Morphology: Puparium mostly shiny black, , flattened, and with a fringe of dense white waxy setae. Adults dark brown with 2-3 diagonal reddish stripes across the wings.
Host plants: Polyphagous.
Life history: This species has 2-3 annual generations on pomegranate, being active from spring to autumn. The eggs are laid on leaves, attached by short stalks.
Economic importance: An intermittent pest of citrus and pomegranate in some Middle Eastern countries.
Biological control: Several aphelinid parasitoids attack the pest in different parts of the world. Most belong to the genera Eretmocerus and Encarsia (in Israel these include E. roseni Gerling and E. diversiciliatus Silvestri, and Encarsia davidi Viggiani & Mazzone). Various spiders and Coccinellidae feed on the pest in India.
References
Hayat, M. 1976. Two new species of Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) parasitic on Acaudaleyrodes rachipora (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) from India. Entomophaga 21: 157- 162.
Kfouri, L., Abdul-Nour, N. and El-Amil, R. 2004. Les aleurodes des agrumes au Liban : Inventaire raisonné et nouvelles espèces introduites (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha). Nouvelle Revue d’Entomologie 20: 345-351.
Panis, A., Kreiter, P. and Onillon, J.-C. 2010. Acaudaleyrodes rachipora (Singh), a whitefly species new to Algeria, Mauritania and Tunisia (Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae). Nouvelle Revue d’Entomologie (N.S.) 26: 67-70.
Pandey, V.P., Sundararaji, R. and Ahmed, S.I. 2006. Natural enemies of Babul whitefly, Acaudaleyrodes rachipora (Singh) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) from Jodhpur, India. Journal of Biological Control 20: 85-88.
Polaszek, A., Abd-Rabou, S. and Huang, J. 1999. The Egyptian species of Encarsia (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae): A preliminary review. Zoologische mededelingen Leiden 73: 131-163.
Rivnay, T. and Gerling, D. 1987. Aphelinidae parasitoids (Hymenopter: Chalcidoidea) of whitefly (Hemiptera: Aleyrodiddae) in Israel with descriptions of three new species. Entomophaga 32: 463-475.
Rosen, D. - 1966. Notes on the parasites of Acaudaleyrodes citri (Priesner and Hosni) [Hom. : Aleyrodidae] in Israel. Entomologische Berichten 26: 55-59.