BIOLOGY, DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND SUSCEPTIBILITY OF SOME STONE FRUIT TREES TO INFESTATION BY THE FLATHEADED TREE BORER, SPHENOPTERA SERVISTANA OBENBERGER (Coleoptera: Buprestidae).
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Abstract
Field studies were carried out on flatheaded tree borer, Sphenoptera servistana Obenb., 1929 on stone fruit trees orchards in middle of Iraq during 2019 - 2020 Baghdad ,to know the temporal presence of the different stages of the insect, the nature of the tunnels in which different insect stages are formed (metamorphosis), the behavior of the different stages inside the tunnels, the host preference for the insect and the percentage of injury and damage.
The results indicated that the longest time the insect spends is in the larval stage, where it resides most of the seasons of the year, the egg phase presence during the period from mid-May to the end of September coinciding with the presence of adults in period 135 days. As for the pupae, their presence continued for 44 days for the period from April 7 to May 21, including the period of development inside the larva. The adult stage continued to exist for a period of 128 days during the period May 22 until the end of September, including the period of development within the tunnels in the trees. The insect completes the development of most of its stages inside tunnels that dig into the xylem of the stems and branches of plum and apricot trees, except for the egg stage, on the outer surface of the bark of the stems and branches. The different stage of the flatheaded tree borer exhibits multiple behaviors within the development tunnels. The borer prefers to infest first the plum trees (cherry plum), followed by the apricot trees, where an infestation rate of 73% and 24% was recorded respectively. The results of this trials help to decide when is the suitable timing of the control programs based on the behavior and development process. The behavior of the borer and the different stages presence during the year support knowing the weakest point in which the insect should be controlled.
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Copyright (c) 2020 Mohamed Zidan Khalaf, Ibrahim Jadou (Author)

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