Coccinellid Predators Beetles of Insect Pests of Citrus in The Indian Punjab

Citrus fruits, particularly Kinnow Mandarin and sweet oranges are of major economic significance in the Punjab. Kinnow ranks first with respect to area and production (31788 ha and 591319 M tonnes) followed by sweet orange, limes and lemons. Presently, out of 61618 ha under fruit crops in Punjab, Kinnow alone has about 41 per cent share. About 40 insects and mite pests have been recorded from Punjab infesting different parts of Kinnow tree. The objective of this study was to explore the coccinellid predatory beetles feeding on different insect pests of citrus in the Punjab. Survey and surveillance of citrus orchards were conducted since 2004 in the three agro-climatic zones of Punjab, i.e. South Western arid zone, central plain zone and sub-montaneous zone along with fixed plot surveys in the New Orchard and College Orchard of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to study the coccinellid predators active in citrus groves of Punjab. This study reports 17 coccinellid beetles feeding on different insect-pests of citrus and a hyperparasitoid from Punjab. Grubs/adults of coccinellid beetles including Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, Coccinella transversalis Fabricius, Brumoides suturalis (Fabricius), Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius), Chilocorus nigrita (Fabricius), Anegleis cardoni (Weise), Micraspis allardi (Mulsant), Psyllobora bisoctonotata (Mulsant), Illeis cincta (Fabricius), Harmonia dimidiata (Fabricius), Rodolia nr. breviuscula Weise, Hippodamia variegata (Goeze), Propylea dissecta (Mulsant), Propylea nr. dissecta (Mulsant), Propylea japonica (Thunberg), Pharoscymnus flexibilis (Mulsant) and Scymnus sp. were observed feeding on different insect-pests including mealy bugs, viz., Planococcus citri (Risso), Planococcus lilacinus (Cockerell), Nipaecoccus viridis (Newstead) and Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green), aphid complex comprising Toxoptera aurantii (Boyer de Fonscolombe) (Citrus black aphid), Myzus persicae Sulzer (Green peach aphid) and Aphis gossypii Glover (Melon or cotton aphid), scale insect, Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), whitefly, Dialeurodes citri (Ashmead), blackfly, Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby, citrus psylla, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama and citrus mite, Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein). Apart from these, a number of colour morphs of C. septempunctata and C. sexmaculata were also observed. Cocoons of Dinocampus (Perilitus) coccinellae (Schrank) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a solitary endoparasitoid of C. septempunctata were observed on the ventral side of the adult beetle on the leaves of Kinnow Mandarin.