A primary survey of aphid species on almond and peach, and natural enemies of Brachycaudus amygdalinus in As-Sweida, Southern Syria

摘要

Syria is one of the biggest almond producer country in the world. Few arthropdes thatudlive on almond are consider as pests. Aphids are one of the major pests their. Inudorder to change the product to organic we should know more about the pests andudtheir natural enemies in order to use better bio- and organic decisions. A field surveyudwas done to aphids that attack Almond and Peach in Al-Arab mountain at As- Sweidaudgovernorate, between 2002 and 2006. Three species of aphids were considered asudimportant pests on both trees. They are Brachycaudus amygdalinus andudBrachycaudus helichrysi, which are aphids that feed on the young leaves causingudstunted growth; and Pterochloroides persicae which is a species that attack the barkudand excretes large quantities of honeydew. A survey of natural enemies of B.udamygdalinus has been done in addition to study its population dynamics during theudseasons of 2002, 2003 and 2004. 30 species of natural enemies were recordedudincludes 15 Coccinellidae, 4 of each Anthocoridae and Miridae, 3 of Syrphidae, oneudspecies of each of Chrysopidae and Chamaemyiidae, and one beetle, in addition toudone parasitoid. Some Arachinids were also mentioned to prey on this aphid. Mostudnumerous predator at the beginning of the season was Coccinella septempunctataudfollowed later with Scymnus (Pullus) subvillosus and Hyppodamia variegate. Mostudnumerous predatory bug was Orius horvathi.