Biological traits of invasive insect species harmful to Moroccan agriculture

ABSTRACT For all important crops in Morocco, key pests are always introduced species. We looked at the biological traits of these pests in order to study principles underlying the success of their entry, establishment and spread. It appears that immature development for all the species of interest occur over a wide range of temperatures. These species also have short generation times, which result in overlapping generations. Although these pests are reported as polyphagous, they show some specialization in the Moroccan context. Natural enemies and temperature make up the most important factors in the regulation of population densities and limitation of the spread of introduced species