Mirid bug, Helopeltis cinchonae Mann: a new pest of economically important horticultural crops in Northeast India
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Mirid bug, Helopeltis cinchonae Mann: a new pest of economically important horticultural crops in Northeast India D. M. Firake & E. Sankarganesh & H. M. Yeshwanth & G. T. Behere
Received: 25 July 2020 / Accepted: 5 October 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The mirid bug, Helopeltis cinchonae Mann (Order: Hemiptera) has been recorded for the first time on six economically important horticultural crops in India. The infestation of H. cinchonae was considerably higher during June–July on guava, geranium and chrysanthemum plants; whereas during August–September on brinjal and chili plants. Mirid bug, H. cinchonae was found causing significant yield losses to guava fruits and chili plants in Meghalaya. This study provides basic knowledge on biology, feeding damage and morphological characters of H. cinchonae supported with its DNA barcode and phylogeny.
Keywords Brinjal . Chili . Chrysanthemum . Guava . Geranium . Ginger . Tea mosquito bug
D. M. Firake and E. Sankarganesh contributed equally to this work. D. M. Firake : E. Sankarganesh : G. T. Behere Division of Crop Protection, ICAR Research Complex for NEH region, Umiam, Meghalaya 793103, India H. M. Yeshwanth Department of Agricultural Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru 560 065, India
Present Address: G. T. Behere (*) ICAR- Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI), Amravati Road, Nagpur, Maharashtra 440033, India e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction The mirid bugs of the genus Helopeltis (Hemiptera) are serious pests of many plant species in the world including India. Apart from its major host ‘tea and cashew’, numerous species of plants have been reported yet as hosts for Helopeltis spp., including black pepper (Piper nigrum), cashew (Anacardium occidentale), cinchona (Cinchona spp.), cocoa (Theobroma cocoa), and tea (Camellia sinensis) (Stonedahl et al. 1995; Mann 1907). Previously, three species of Helopeltis (viz., H. theivora, H. bradyi and H. antonii) are known to infest guava (Psidium guajva), chili (Capsicum annum) and brinjal (Solanum melongena) from India (Ganga Visalakshy et al. 2019; Kalita et al. 2016; Sivakumar and Yeshwanth 2019). We recorded a significant infestation of Helopeltis cinchonae (Hemiptera: Miridae) on chili plants and guava fruits at Umiam, Meghalaya. Also, this species was found developing on four more host plants viz., brinjal, geranium (Pelargonium spp.), chrysanthemum and ginger (Zingiber officinale) in Meghalaya. Mann (1902) described H. cinchonae infesting cinchona trees at Munsong, British Bhutan and also at Mangpu (erstwhile Mungpoo), Darieeling (India). Besides this, no other information about H. cinchonae is available hitherto from India. Nevertheless, H. cinchonae is known to feed on over 60 plants including Capsicum frutescens and Solanum spp. in Malaysia (Miller 1941; Lever 1949). According to Stonedhal (1991), H. cinchonae is distributed in Bhutan, south-east Asia, Java, Taiwan and Assam province (which presently includes Assam, Meghalaya,
Phytoparasit
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