Heavy incidence and damage by Rastrococcus mangiferae (Green) Ferris in mango

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) the ‘King of Fruits’ is an important fruit crop in tropical and subtropical countries of the world. Mango is vulnerable to a variety of pests including insects, mites, pathogens and vertebrates. Mango originated from Indo-Burma region and is cultivated in India, China, Thailand, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and Egypt. India contributes about 50% of the world’s mango production with 2.5 million hectares with an annual production of 18.0 million tons (Reddy et al., 2018). Insect pests pose a valid threat to sustainable cultivation of mangoes. An elaborate compilation of insect pests in mango indicates around 400 species of insect pests from different parts of the world (de Laroussilhe 1980; Tandon and Verghese 1985; Veeresh 1989; Pena et al. 1998). Among the insects sucking pests (leafhoppers, mealybugs, scales, thrips) and mites form a larger group causing huge yield loss. Sucking insects with shorter life cycles and ability to reproduce asexually result in their huge abundance. Further, frequent outbreaks owing to climatic variation pose serious challenge through both direct and indirect losses (Jayanthi et al., 2014). Approximately 20 species of mealybugs are reported to infest mango. Among them, Drosicha mangiferae (Green), D. stebbingi (Green), and Rastrococcus iceryoides (Green), are considered to be serious pests and are more frequently reported. They are widely distributed in India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. R. iceryoides is also reported from Malaysia (Tandon and Verghese 1985). Under genus Rastrococcus of the 22 species described, three species, R. invadens Williams, R. iceryoides (Green) and R. mangiferae (Green) are documented in mango from India (Narasimham and Chacko, 1988 and 1991).