S. Afr. J. Enol. Vitic., Vol. 36, No. 2, 2015 Corresponding author: E-mail address: [email protected] Acknowledgements: The author wishes to thank Levocia Williams and Lydia Maart of the Pest Management Division at the ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij for technical assistance, and Marika van der Merwe and Elize Jooste of the ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute for the PCR analyses. Funding for...

Determining the most likely source of an invasive pest species might help to improve their management by establishing efficient quarantine measures and heading the search of efficient biological control agents. Planococcus ficus is an invasive mealybug pest of vineyards in Argentina, California, Mexico, Peru and South Africa. This mealybug pest had a previously known geographic distribution spa...

Many insect species establish mutualistic symbiosis with intracellular bacteria that complement their unbalanced diets. The betaproteobacterium "Candidatus Tremblaya" maintains an ancient symbiosis with mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), which are classified in subfamilies Phenacoccinae and Pseudococcinae. Most Phenacoccinae mealybugs have "Candidatus Tremblaya phenacola" as their unique en...

Many biotic and abiotic factors affect the transmission efficiency of vector-borne plant pathogens. Insect vector within-plant distribution and host tissue preference are known to affect pathogen acquisition and inoculation rates. In this study, we first investigated whether feeding tissue affects the transmission of Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 by Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Hemipte...

The vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is a pest in grape vine growing areas worldwide. The essential oils from the following aromatic plants were tested for their insecticidal activity against P. ficus: peppermint, Mentha piperita L. (Lamiales: Lamiaceae), thyme-leaved savory, Satureja thymbra L., lavender, Lavandula angustifolia Mill, and basil, Ocimum ba...

Mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) are pests constraining the international trade of Brazilian table grapes. They damage grapes by transmitting viruses and toxins, causing defoliation, chlorosis, and vigor losses and favoring the development of sooty mold. Difficulties in mealybug identification remain an obstacle to the adequate management of these pests. In this study, our primary aim was ...

Molecular species identification is becoming more wide-spread in diagnostics and ecological studies, particularly with regard to insects for which morphological identification is difficult or time-consuming. In this study, we describe the development and application of a single-step multiplex PCR for the identification of three mealybug species (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) associated with grapev...

The effectiveness of augmentation programs varies depending on natural enemy species released, targeted pest, and release environment. For example, open-fields, row crops, and orchards present a more difficult environment for successful natural enemy release than protected environments, such as glasshouses. Released natural enemies may disperse from the target site, perform poorly at ambient te...

The effect of access to buckwheat flowers (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench; Polygonales: Polygonaceae) or vetch extrafloral nectaries (Vicia sativa L. cv. ‘cahaba white’; Fabales: Fabaceae) on the fitness of Anagyrus pseudococci (Girault) (Hymenotpera: Encyrtidae) (a parasitoid of the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus [Signoret]) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) was determined in the laboratory. Female A...