Survey of mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) and their natural enemies in Tunisian vineyards

A survey of mealybugs and their associated natural enemies occurring in vineyards was conducted in 2003 and 2004 in different Tunisian grapevine-growing regions. Two mealybug species, the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso), and the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret), were found in all inspected vineyards. Parasitoids were recorded more frequently than predators as natural enemies of the two Planococcus species. Four encyrtid primary parasitoids, Anagyrus pseudococci (Girault), Leptomastix dactylopii (Howard), Leptomastidea abnormis (Girault) and Coccidoxenoides peregrinus (Timberlake), were recorded from mummified mealybugs collected in the field. Anagyrus pseudococci, with a rate of parasitism of 80.3 %, was the most abundant parasitoid, followed by L. abnormis (12.1 %), C. pertyrinus (4.5 %) and finally L. dactylopii (3 %). Two coccinellids, Rhyzobius lophanthae and Scymnus sp., were found associated with mealybugs.