Biocontrol News and Information

June 2000, Volume 21 No. 2

• General News
• IPM Systems
• Training News
• Internet Round-Up
• Announcements
• Conference Reports
• New books

 Internet Round-up

By: Tony Little, Technical Support Group to the Global IPM Facility, CABI Bioscience.

This quarter we are looking at mealybugs. There is a fair bit on the net, and much of it focuses on the hibiscus, or pink hibiscus, mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus [see General News, this issue]. News bulletins over the past three or four years on the biological control of this pest can be found at a number of sites. For example: `Search is on for natural enemies of mealybugs', a paper from the `Good Fruit Grower' at:

http://www.goodfruit.com/archive/Sept_96/feature5.html

`Wasps to keep pink mealybug in check', from the Environmental News Network at:

http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/1997/06/062597/06259706.asp

`Presence of the Pink Hibiscus Mealybug is confirmed in Belize' from the Government of Belize Press Office at:

http://www.belize.gov.bz/pressoffice/press_releases/29-09-1999-236.shtml

The USDA-APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine site has produced a nice little fact sheet on the Pink Hibiscus mealybug at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/mealybug.html

which is worth a look, and is linked to the 1997 status report on its biological control. A bit out of date now, but tells the story of biological control project in the Caribbean. CABI Bioscience also give details of their activities in this area at:

http://www.cabi.org/BIOSCIENCE/invertebrate.htm#mealybug

The University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project has produced some brief, pithy pest management guidelines, including one for citrus mealybug at:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r107300511.html

The `Texas Fruit' home page can be found at:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/citrus/citrus.htm

and has a section on pest management and pages dedicated to the citrus mealybug at:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/citrus/l2311.htm

Not a great deal of information here, but quite a pretty site, and a useful place to visit if, like me, you are a bit of novice in the world of citrus pest management.

The Virtual Orchard at:

http://www.virtualorchard.net/

is a dedicated World Wide Web site for sustainable apple production, and has a little bit on the grape mealybug, biology and control. The Virtual Orchard is part of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Fruit Loop:

http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/fruitloop.html

If I'm honest there is not a great deal of mealybug information here, but this is such a good site for apple IPM, that I felt compelled to include it somewhere!