Some Biological and Ecological Factors of Olive Moth, Prays oleae (Bern.) in Al-Quneitra Governorate, Southern Syria

Al-Jouri, E., N. Diab and M. Dawoud. 2023. Some Biological and Ecological Factors of Olive Moth, Prays oleae (Bern.) in Al-Quneitra Governorate, Southern Syria. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 41(3): 233-245. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-41.3.233245 This study was carried out during the 2017 and 2018 seasons in three locations in Al-Quneitra governorate (Saida, Khan Arnabeh, and Hadar), with different heights above sea level, in order to monitor the activity of adult males of the olive moth Prays oleae (Bern.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae). using pheromone traps. The results obtained showed that the olive moth has three generations per year, and the timing of adult males emergence and the duration of each generation differed according to the studied location and season. Adults of the first generation (Anthophagous) began to appear from the first and second week of March for the seasons 2017 and 2018, respectively, in Saida site, and were delayed until the first and second week of April in Hadar location for the two study seasons, respectively. The duration of the first-generation range was 11-12 weeks, and the butterflies of the second generation (Carpophagous) appeared in the first week of June in the Saida location and the last week of June in Hadar location, and the duration of the generation range was 12-21 weeks. Adults of the third generation (Phyllophagous) began to appear in the second and third week of November for the Saida location in the two study seasons, and the fourth week of September for the locations of Khan Arnabeh and Hadar, with generation duration of 8-11 weeks. The monthly abundance differed during the same season according to the study location, and the population peak of adult olive moths was in Saida location during the two seasons of the study in April (635.67 and 664.33 males/trap, respectively), which significantly outperformed the rest of the months. The two locations of Khan Arnabeh and Hadar had the highest number of adults during the two study seasons in May, with a significant difference compared with the rest of the months with an average of 514.33 and 316.00 males/trap for the 2017 season, respectively, and 651.67 and 411.67 males/trap, respectively, for the 2018 season. By studying the correlation between the population density of adult males and temperature and humidity, it was found that there was a positive correlation with temperatures during the first generation (+0.63), and a weak negative correlation during the second generation (-0.21), and weak positive correlation during the third generation (+ 0.165). Whereas, the correlation was weakly negative between mean relative humidity and moth adults population in all three generations (-0.359, -0.39, -0.264), respectively. Keywords: Olive moth, Prays oleae, biological factors, ecological factors, Al Quneitra governorate, southern Syria.