Polyphylla olivieri

Polyphylla olivieri (Laporte de Castelanu)

Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Holometabola, Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae.

Distribution: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Syria and Israel.

Morphology: The pale elytra of males and females are covered with uneven black spots. The proximal leg segments bear strong spurs. The distal segment of the female antennae with five extensions (antennomeres), the male antennae with seven. The whitish larvae are C-shaped.

Life history: Polyphylla olivieri requires 2-3 years to complete a life cycle. The larvae live in the soil, feed on the roots of many plants; the short-lived adults occur on various plants on whose leaves they feed,

Economic importance: A serious pest of many crops in different parts of the world. In Iran the larvae damage roots of apple and cherry trees as well as potatoes, the adults feed on their leaves.

Management:

Sampling: Light traps placed in potato fields were used to collect the beetles.

Biological control: Several mites of the family Laelapidae prey on the pest. The parasitoid Microphthalma europaea Egger (Tachinidae, Diptera) attacks the pest in Iran. The red-pigmented bacterium Serratia marcescens Bisio infects the larvae. Isolates of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin killed about 10% of the larvae, which may also be infected by entomopathogenic nematodes.

References

Bidari, F., Shams‐Bakhsh, M. and Mehrabadi, D. 2018. Isolation and characterization of a Serratia marcescens with insecticidal activity from Polyphylla olivieri (Col.: Scarabaeidae). Journal of Applied Entomology 142: 162-172.

Karimi, J. and Kharazi-pakdel, A. 2007. Incidence of natural infection of the white grub Polyphylla olivieri (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) with entomopathogenic nematodes in Iran. IOBC/ wprs Bulletin 30: 35-39.

Karimi, J. and Kharazi-pakdel, A. 2100. New insights into biocontrol of the white grub Polyphylla olieveri. Society for Invertebrate Pathology, Annual Meeting-SIP, 2100.

Khanjani, M., Ghaed, B. and Ueckermann, E.A. 2005. New species of Hypoaspis Canestrini and Coleolaelaps Berlese (Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) associated with Polyphylla olivieri Castelnau (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Iran. Zootaxa 3745: 469–478.

Rittner, O. 2016. The first record of Polyphylla olivieri (Laporte de Castelanu, 1840) (Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) from Lebanon. Israel Journal of Entomology 46: 77-78.

Rittner, O. 2016. Synopsis םf the Melolonthini (Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) of Israel, with a first description of the female of Anoxia (Protanoxia) Laevimacula Petrovitz, 1973. Israel Journal of Entomology 46: 99-108.

Salehi, L. and Kharazi-Pakdel, A. 1984. Initial introduction and study of parasitic flies Microphthalma europaea (Dip.: Tachinidae) on the white grub (Pollyphylla olivieri). 9th Iranian International Plant Protection Congress. Tehran University, Iran. p. 45.

Website

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