Pests on Fruits 2. Citrus

2.CITRUS

1. Lime tree borer or orange borers: Chelidonium cinctum :Cerambycidae: Coleoptera.

• Adult is dull metallic green to dark violet with a yellow band across the middle of the elytra

2. Orange trunk borer: Anoplophora versteegi  :Cerambicidae: Coleoptera.

• Egg: Laid singly in cracks on bark upto 2 feet height from the ground. Fecundity is 35-85 eggs/female. 
• Grub: Feeds on sapwood making horizontal galleries before entering into centre of the trunk.  267-290 days. 
• Pupa: Pupation takes place inside the gallery for 33-43 days. 
• Adult: The beetle is large, stout and approximately 21-37 mm long with shyny black elytra marked with 10-12 white round spots.

Adult

3. Citrus psyllid Diaphorina indica :Psyllidae: Homoptera.

4. Citrus white fly Dialeurodes citri (Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera

5. Citrus black fly Aleurocanthus woglumi :Aleyrodidae: Homoptera. 

• Nymphs are scale like, shiny black and spiny and boarded by a white fringe of wax.
• Adult fly is dark orange with smoky wings.
• Both nymph & adult feed on cell sap. It results in the curling of leaves and also premature fall of flower buds and developing fruits.

Nymph

Adult

6. Cottony cushion scale Icerya purchasi :Margarodidae: Homoptera.

• Host Range: Apple, almond, walnut, peach, apricot, fig, grapevine, guava, and pomegranate, etc.,
• Full-grown larva is broadly oval and reddish brown to brick red in colour. Males are rare, and reproduce by parthenogenesis
• Adult female is a flat, oval brown to reddish-brown, soft-bodied scale, which lays large, white, fluted egg-sac.

Scale Insect

7. Citrus leaf miner Phyllocnistis citrella :Gracillariidae: Lepidoptera.

• Egg: Laid singly on leaves @2-3 per leaf.  Fecundity is  36-76 eggs/female. 
• Larva: Pale yellow / palegreen with light brown well developed mandibles.  It is full-fed in 5-30 days. 
• Pupa: By the time they spin cocons for pupation, leaves get twisted / folded over.  PP:5-25 days. 
• Adult: Tiny, silvery white moth with 4.3 mm wing expanse with fringed wings.
• Larva mines into the tender leaves and form zig-zag galleries which feeds on the epidermal cells leaving behind the remaining leaf tissues quite intact.  The infested leaves turn pale, gets distorted and dry.  The mining of larval may lead to 20infection by fungi and bacteria causing ‘citrus canker’.  

Adult moth

Mining on leaves

Mining on Fruit

Twisting of Leaf

8. Citrus caterpillar/ lemon butterfly:  Papilio demoleus, P. polytes :Papilionidae: Lepidoptera.

• Larva: Early stage larva resembles bird dropping. Grown up larva are cylindrical, stout, green and brown lateral bond.
• Adult:Papilio demoleus:  Dark brown swallowtail butterfly with numerous yellow marking. P. polytes: Jet black butterfly with row of white spots along the middle part of hindwing. 90–100 mm.
• Defoliation.

Papilio demoleus

Papilio polytes

9. Fruit piercing moths Othreis fullonia, O. materna and O. ancilla :Noctuidae: Lepidoptera.

• Eggs: They lay eggs on a number of wild plants and weeds, namely Tinospora cordifolia, Cocculus pendulus and C. hirsutus, which are found growing near citrus orchards.
• Larva: Semilooper with orange blue and yellow spots on its velvety dark speckled body.
• Adult: Moths are nocturnal and are not seen during the day. Stout built moth with grey and orange coloured wings. O. fullonica: Tripod black mark in the forewing and curved marking in hindwing. O. materna: Three black spots on the forewing.         O. ancilla: White band in the middle of the forewing.

Othreis fullonica

Othreis materna

Othreis ancilla