Salicicola kermanensis

Salicicola kermanensis (Lindinger).

Common name: Iranian poplar scale.

Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Hemimetabola, Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Coccoidea, Diaspididae.

Host plants: Poplar (Populus spp.), Salix spp.

Morphology: Salicicola kermanensis is pupillarial, the female body remaining within the dark-brown exuvium of the 2nd-stage nymph. The female is elongate-oval, convex, about 1.3 mm in length, and the shield is short, also convex.

Geographical distribution: The Middle East, Southern Asia, Morocco, Yugoslavia, and Greece.

Life history: A univoline species. The females lay about 25 eggs, and the hatching crawlers suffer from high mortality.

Economic importance: An important pest of poplars, whose heavy infestations can tree wilting.

Sampling: Four branches/tree are selected in early spring and the number of scales found thereon are counted per surface unit.

Management

Plant tolerance: Various poplar cultivars are relatively less infested. Reduced irrigation negatively affects the pest’s populations.

Biological control: Several Aphelinidae attack the pest, including Aphytis mytilaspidis. Predators include the Coccinellidae Nephus fenestratus (Sahlberg), Chilocorus bipustulatus, Pharoscymnus Spp., and a Scymnus sp. Their effect on pest numbers and damage is not known.

References

Adabi, S.T., Sadeghi, S.E. and Bagheri, R. 2013. Influence of irrigation regimes and poplar clones on densities of Empoasca decedens (Hom.: Cicadellidae), Salicicola kermanensis (Hom.: Diaspididae) and Diaspidiotus slavoncus (Hom.: Diaspididae) in Karaj, Iran. Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences 3: 644-651.

Ahmad, R. and Ghani, M.A. 1972. Coccoidea and their natural enemy complexes in Pakistan. Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, Technical Bulletin 15: 59-104.

Ghani, M.A. and Muzaffar, N. 1974 Relations Between the Parasite-Predator Complex and the Host-Plants of Scale Insects in Pakistan. Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, Miscellaneous Publications 5: 1-92.

Jalivand, K., Shirazi, M., Ali, V.H. and Samih, M.H. 2013. A Preliminary study on natural enemies of Coccoidea (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha) in Kermanshah Province, Western Iran. Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 48: 299–308.

Website

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