22 Environment, Vol.16 (1), April-June 2010 Insect Environment, Vol.16 (1), April-June 2010 23

Seasonal Activity of the Mango Leaf Webber Record of Leaf Chafer Beetles Adoretus versutus Harold and euadrusalis Walker ( ) Apogonia blanchardi Ritsema on Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) Rajesh Verma and Swati Singh in Andhra Pradesh. RVSKVV, Fruit Research Station, Entkhedi, Bhopal - 462 038, India N. Emmanuel, A. Sujatha and B. Gautam Horticultural Research Station, Andhra Pradesh Horticultural University, The Mango () is popularly known as king of fruits. In India Ambajipeta - 533214, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India. mango accounts for 22.06 per cent of total area under fruit crops. In Email: [email protected] Madhya Pradesh, the mango tree is attacked by various pests like scale insect, mealy bug, fruit fly, leaf webber etc. Among the insect pests, mango Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is one of the major commercial plantation leaf webber Walker (Pyralidae : Lepidoptera) is one crops of the world. In Andhra Pradesh cocoa is being grown to an extent of 13720 hectares. Most of the area are in East and West Godavari of the major pests responsible for low productivity (Verghese, 1998). It is districts of Andhra Pradesh. In India cocoa is known to be attacked by widely distributed in different agro climatic zones of Madhya Pradesh, about 50 pests. affecting yield by damaging shoots and inflorescence - from April to December (Mishra 2001). The pest's activity was recorded throughout In the course of the present investigation the Adoretus versutus the year on Langra variety of mango at fortnightly interval on pre-marked [Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae] and Apogonia blanchardi Ritsema trees of same age. The sample size was five trees. Absolute number of [Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae] were observed feeding on the infested webbed masses were counted and removed after recording the cocoa foliage during night times confirming them to be nocturnal. The – 12 mm long whereas the adults of A. versutus is 10 A. blanchardi is observation. – 11 mm long. The 9 A. blanchardi feeds on the cocoa leaf from the Data revealed that the pest activity in the mango orchards began in the peripheral region but A. versutus feeds on the central laminar portion of months of June and it remain active up to the December, beyond that the –zag way leaving the veins intact in a skeletonized manner. the leaf in a zig activity declined to zero level up to April. The pests completed several Western Samoa islands and also reported that the beetle spends egg to over lapping generation from June to December on mango trees. There adult stage in the top few centimeters of soil, preferably in pastures and was three distinct peaks observed in first fortnight of August (9.48 webbed near the host plants on which the adults feed. Apart from cocoa, A. versutus mass/tree), September (23.10 webbed mass/tree) and October (25.00 is also found feeding on rose, ground nut and yam beam (Beaudoin webbed mass/tree) respectively. The pest's activity remains at high level et al (1995). from September to December (ranged from 20.00 to 25.00 webbed mass/ tree). After second fortnight of December the larval population vanished The report of the leaf chafer beetles A. versutus Harold and A. blanchardi from the orchards and no further infestation was noticed in the mango Ritsema associated with cocoa is the first record from Andhra Pradesh. orchards. The most active periods of the pests was from August to A roving survey was conducted for the incidence of chafer beetles A. versutus and A. blanchardi in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. December. The pests activity was correlated with the weather factors Non The incidence of these chafer beetles was found in small isolated significant correlations of maximum and minimum temperatures (r = - patches of cocoa crop grown as intercrop in the coconut gardens of East 0.263), rainfall (r = -0.216) and relative humidity (r = 0.0577) were Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. In the East Godavari the damage observed. This indicated that the weather factors may not have direct intensity of A. versutus and A. blanchardi was severe in Isakapudi village, influence on the activity of the pest in mango orchard. while moderate in Ambajipeta, Bandarulanka, Munganda, Ravulapalen and Sakhinetipalli villages. References Mishra, A.K. (2001). Integrated pest management in mango. Publication The authors are thankful to Dr. V.V. Ramamurthy, Principal Scientist, Extension Bulletin CISH, Lucknow: 13-14. Department of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Verghese, A. (1998). Insect Environment 4(3) : 7. Delhi for leaf chafer beetle identification. Reference Beaudoin, L., Morin, J. P., Nguyen, C. and Decazy, B.1995. Journal of Applied Entomology. 1995. 119 (6):391-397.