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Not AvailablePlant hopper, Platybrachys leucostigma (Walker) is one of the important sucking insects feeding on eucalyptus plants. The hoppers and nymphs suck the sap and devitalize the plant. Although several parasites were reported on the eggs, for the first time egg feeding predatory syrphid, Allobaccha amphithoe (Walker) was observed on the egg capsule of P. leucostigma. Eggs are inserted into the capsule by the adult female and the ensuing maggots fed on the eggs. The total life cycle of the syrphid fly is completed in 14-15 days. Egg parasitoid, Proleurocerus litoralis was also found to parasitize the eggs of P. leucostigma.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableAcerophagus papayae Noyes & Schauff, a solitary endoparasitoid of Paracoccus marginatus William Granara DeWillink which parasitizes the early stage nymphs was released in India during 2010 for biological control of papaya mealybug. It could substantially reduce the incidence of P. marginatus within a span of 6-8 months. There were no parasitoids reported on A. papayae so far from any part of the world. Marietta leopardina and Chartocerus sp. hyperparasitoids of other mealybugs recorded in India were for the first time found to parasitize A. papayae by upto 1.25 per cent and 1.09% respectively. Under laboratory rearing, the time required for emergence of M. leopardina was found to be 12-16 days and that of Chartocerus sp was 12-15 days.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableHoney bees which are the dominant pollinators of sesamum when studied revealed that maximum foraging activity for nectar and pollen collection was observed during morning hours of the day in case of all three species (Apis cerana, A. dorsata and A. florea). The mean number of nectar foragers of A. cerana, A. dorsata and A. florea was 3.18, 1.99 and 2.08 bees/m2/5 min, respectively and pollen foragers of A. cerana, A. dorsata and A. florea was 3.06, 1.86 and 1.87 bees/m2/5 min, respectively; and nectar and pollen foragers was almost equal for three species. The bees spent more time while collecting pollen in sesamum flowers. A. florea spent more time for pollen and nectar collection (8.93 and 7.41 sec/flower, respectively) as compared to A. cerana (6.51 and 4.57 sec/flower, respectively) and A. dorsata (6.70 and 5.95 sec/flower, respectively).Not Availabl

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Not AvailableIn sesamum bees are the best pollinators which contribute nearly 80% of the total insect pollination (Thapa, 2006). Sesamum is a source of honey for beekeepers primarily because it flowers in mid-summer when not much of other crops are in bloom. It also attracts various other bees and insects that feed on its pollen or nectar; however, honey bees are the primary visitors (Langham, 1941).Not Availabl

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Not AvailableForaging activity of Apis cerana in sesamum crop during pre and post spray of Citral-a (10 µl/l), Citral-b (10 µl/l), Geranial (10 µl/l), Vanilla flavor (200 µl/l), Pineapple flavor (200 µl/l), Mango flavor (200 µl/l), Chocholate flavor (200 µl/l) and Rose white flavor (200 µl/l) attractants indicated that Apis cerana bees were mostly attracted to very few attractants and scents. Citral-a was found to be a good attractant for bees followed by Citral-b and Geraniol. The effect of attractants sprayed remained up to third day of spraying. Other treatments like Vanilla flavor, Pineapple flavor did not show any increase in bee visitation over the unsprayed controlNot Availabl

Neotype designation and redescription of Inostemma indicum (Platygastroidea: Platygastridae) parasitizing ivy gourd gall midge

Kamalanathan, Veenakumari, Shylesha, A. N., Mohanraj, Prashanth (2018): Neotype designation and redescription of Inostemma indicum (Platygastroidea: Platygastridae) parasitizing ivy gourd gall midge. Zootaxa 4420 (3): 439-444, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4420.3.

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Not AvailableSesamum is a highly cross pollinated crop, rich in oil and protein. Pollination is mostly performed by insects. Any material to increase honey bee visits to specific crop would be of great practical value to harness the benefits of cross pollination. There are very few studies on the role of bee attractants enhancing bee visitation and yield in sesame crop. Hence, the present investigations were undertaken. Apis cerana caged plots was best among all treatments showing significant effects. In caged condition with A. cerana, plants had more capsules per plant (54.00), capsule length (23.24 mm), capsule width (7.22 mm) number of seeds per capsule (54.57), test weight (3.92 g), germination (92.00 %) and vigour index (1261). Citral-a and Citral-b followed by Geraniol were the next best treatments after caged condition with A. cerana colony. Oil content, weight of green capsule did not differ significantly among the various treatments. We conclude that by keeping Apis cerana bee colonies in sesamum, yield can be enhanced. Application of Citral-a, Citral-b and Geraniol is also beneficial in enhancing the yield.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe encyrtid Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes and Schauff was recovered for the first time from the papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink in India in 2011-12 after 10 to 20 months of release in Bangalore and also in Pune in April 2012. However, parasitism by P. mexicana on P. marginatus did not exceed more than five per cent in both the locations.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis has a countrywide distribution and has been categorized as the most destructive and most serious pest causing huge losses in brinjal. In the present study total of 21 populations of L. orbonalis collected mainly from Karnataka and also from Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh were molecularly characterized. The sequencing resulted in 600-636 bp product of CO I gene and amino acid composition of nucleotide, which varied from 195-206 in different populations. The certain amino acids were either present nor absent in different populations indicating their diversity. The pair-wise genetic distance of L. orbonalis populations ranged from 0.00 to 0.051, suggesting that there was variation in population of L. orbonalis from different locations. The highest genetic distance was observed from the population of Udupi district i.e. 0.051, followed by Koppal district is 0.047, Raichur, Chitoor, Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Guntur population having genetic distance of about 0.039 and other populations have different genetic distances which are related to each other. Therefore, it is inferred that there was no significant molecular diversity within L. orbonalis of different geographical locations of India with respect to COI but there is difference in the amino acid composition and genetic distance among the populationsNot Availabl