Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Florida

 

Title

First record of Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) from the Sultanate of Oman

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

June 2008

Comments

Published in Insecta Mundi Vol. 39, No. 1-3, June, 2008. Copyright © 2008 Al-Zadjali, Ibrahim, and Al-Rawahi.
Insecta Mundi, published by the Center for Systematic Entomology, is available online at http://centerforsystematicentomology.org/.

Abstract

Mexican acid lime, Citrus aurantifolia (L.) Swingle (Rutaceae), is the most popular citrus species in Oman and is the second most important economic crop. The cultivated area of acid lime in the period of 2001-2004 ranged between 4460-2880 feddans (1 feddan = 1.038 acres = 0.420 hectares), with an annual production of about 8160-5875 metric tonnes (Anonymous 2004).

Previous surveys did not reveal any record of psyllids on citrus in Oman. However, the most important psyllid species attacking citrus, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), was recently observed on C. aurantifolia. It was observed first at Barka (Al-Batinah region) on 25 September 2005. Since then it was regularly observed in most citrus orchards of the Al-Batinah region. Diaphorina citri was found to be present in three locations in the Sultanate; Barka (23.709°N 57.887°E), Al-Rustaq (23.391°N 57.424°E) in the Al-Batinah region, and Masirat Al-Rawajeh (23.044°N 57.670°E) at Jabal Al-Akhdar near Nizwa in the A’ Dakhliyah region (Figure 1).