Course No.

ENT-301

Credit hour: 2+1

 INSECT PESTS OF VEGETABLES

INSECT PESTS OF CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES

Cabbage borer: Hellula undalis

Family: Pyraustidae
Order: Lepidoptera

• Description of the pest:

• The eggs are oval and are laid on the under surface of leaves or on the other plant
parts
• They hatch in about 2-4 days
• The larva is long and greyish yellow with seven purplish brown longitudinal stripes
• A pale yellowish brown moth having grey wavy lines on forewings
• Symptoms:
• Caterpillar first mines leaves and leaves become white papery skeletons filled with
excreta
• Later on it feeds on leaves and shoots sheltered within silken passages and finally
bores into cabbage

Extend of infestation observed:

Cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae

Family: Pieridae
Order: Lepidoptera

• Description of the pest:

– The adult is white butterfly with black marking on wings
– Eggs are flask shaped and yellowish, laid in cluster of 50-80 on leaf surface
– The pupa is yellowish green with black spots and dots
– The larva is velvety bluish green in colour with black spots and yellow dorsal and
lateral stripes covered with white filaments
• Symptoms :
– As the caterpillars become mature, they feed in the center of the plant
– The 5th instar larva does the most feeding damage. Fecal pellets can be found
between the leaves
– This pest also damages turnip, radish, mustard, and nasturtiums in addition to cole
crops

Extend of infestation observed:

Cabbage green semilooper, Trichoplusia ni

Family: Noctuidae
Order: Lepidoptera

• Description of the pest:

– The eggs are greenish white spherical and sculptured and are laid singly on ventral
surface of leaves
– The adult is stout moth, head and thorax are ferruginous grey in colour, while
abdomen is ochreous white with basal tufts of hairs
• Symptoms:
– Caterpillars scrap and feed on the leaves initially and later defoliate entire plant
leaving midribs and main veins
– More damage is evidenced in nurseries than in main field
– Pupation takes place in thin transparent cocoons on ventral surface of leaves

Extend of infestation observed:

Diamond Back Moth, Plutella xylostella

Family: Yponomeutidae
Order: Lepidoptera

• Description of the pest:

• Diamond shaped markings dorsally on the wings
• Eggs are yellowish white with greenish tinge, incubation period 3-8 days
• Pupation takes place in a beautiful transparent cocoon
• Symptoms:
– Larva feeds on foliage and causes serious damage by defoliation
– Leaves present a withered appearance or eaten up completely
– Larva damages cabbage and cauliflower
– It makes holes on them and soiling them with excreta
– Scraping causes whitish patches with small windows.

Extend of infestation observed:

Mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi

Family: Aphididae
Order: Hemiptera

• Description of the pest:

– Light / pale green in colour
– Small and delicate in structure
– Have cornicles, or points, on the abdomen
– Have a gray, waxy coat and can be winged or wingless
• Symptoms:
– Nymphs and adults infest young shoots and pods
 – They produce honeydew profusely and make plant parts sticky and leading to fungal
growth on them

Extend of infestation observed:

INSECT PESTS OF CUCURBITACEOUS VEGETABLES

Fruit fly, Bactrocera curcurbitae

Family: Tephritidae
Order: Diptera
• Description of the pest:
• Body yellowish with pale yellow band
• Hyaline wings with costal band broad and prominent anal stripes well
developed
• Hind cross veins thickly margined with brown and grey spots at the apex
• Symptoms:
– Eggs are laid in the fruit in a cavity 2-4 mm deep, singly or in clusters of 4-10 and
sealed with a gummy secretion from ovipositor
– Oozing out of fluids from fruits
– Maggot bores into fruit feeding on the internal contents
– Distorted and malformed fruits
– The maggots feed on the pulp of fruits
– Premature dropping of fruits and also make them unfit for consumption
Extend of infestation observed:

Red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis

Family: Chrysomelidae
Order: Coleoptera

• Description of the pest

– Spherical eggs are laid singly or in batches in the moist soil around the base of the
host plants
– The grub is dirty white and full-grown are creamy yellow
– A.foevicollis adult: Orange or red in colour
• Symptoms
– Grub bores into roots, stems and later into the leaves and fruits lying on the ground
– Adults feed voraciously on leaf lamina and make round to irregular holes
– They hibernate under old cucurbitaceous creepers, grasses, weeds and in soil
– Adult beetles feed leaves, flowers, and fruits making holes and cause death or
retardation of growth
– Seedlings, when infested, are totally destroyed
Extend of infestation observed:

Epilachna beetle, Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata

Family: Coccinellidae
Order: Coleoptera

• Description of the pest

– The grub is yellowish in colour, stout with spines all over the body
– The adult is spherical pale brown and mottled with 14 black spots on each elytron
• Symptoms
– Young plants when attacked suffer maximum damage.
– Adult beetles and their larvae scrap green matter of leaves, causing characteristic
skeletonization and drying up

Extend of infestation observed:

Pumpkin caterpillar, Diaphania indica

Family: Crambidae
Order: Lepidoptera

• Description of the pest

– The eggs are laid singly or in groups on the lower surface of leaves
– The larva is elongated, bright green with a pair of thin white longitudinal lines mid-
dorsally
– Pupation takes place in a cocoon spun among the leaves
– The adult is medium sized moth having white transparent wings with big brown
marginal patches
– Female has tuft of orange coloured hairs at its anal end
• Symptoms
– Young larva scrapes the chlorophyll and later on it folds the leaves and feed within
– It also feeds on flowers and bores into developing fruits
– Ovaries and young developing fruits are also eaten up or damaged
– Affected flowers bear no fruits and infested fruits become unfit for consumption

Extend of infestation observed:

Stink bug, Nezara viridula

Family: Pentatomidae
Order: Hemiptera

• Description of the pest

– Flat, medium sized bugs with pronotum and hemelytra green in colour
– Adults are approximately a centimeter long, bright green and shield-shaped
• Symptoms
– Nymphs and adults suck sap from the tender parts and thereby devitalize the plants
and retard their growth
– They have repugnatorial gland and emit a characteristic buggy smell
Extend of infestation observed:

Leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolli

Family: Agromyzidae
Order: Diptera
• Description of the pest
– The maggot is minute orange yellowish apodous
– The puparium is initially golden brown in color, but turns darker brown with time
– Adults are small, measuring less than 2 mm in length, with a wing length of 1.25 to
1.9 mm. The head is yellow with red eyes. The thorax and abdomen are mostly gray
and black although the ventral surface and legs are yellow. The wings are transparent.
• Symptoms
– Females thrust eggs into the epidermal layer of leaves
– Maggots mine epidermal layer of leaves and cause serpentine mines on leaves
– Punctures caused by females during the feeding and oviposition processes can result
in a stippled appearance on foliage, especially at the leaf tip and along the leaf margins
– However, the major form of damage is the mining of leaves by larvae, which results
in destruction of leaf mesophyll
– The mine becomes noticeable about three to four days after oviposition and becomes
larger in size as the larva matures
– The pattern of mining is irregular. Both leaf mining and stippling can greatly depress
the level of photosynthesis in the plant. Extensive mining also causes premature leaf
drop, which can result in lack of shading and sun scalding of fruit
– Wounding of the foliage also allows entry of bacterial and fungal diseases
Extend of infestation observed:

INSECT PESTS OF SOLANACEOUS VEGETABLES

Pest of Brinjal

Fruit and shoot borer, Leucinodes orbonalis

Family: Pyraustidae
Order: Lepidoptera

• Description of the pest:

– The adult moth is gray with a pink or bluish tinge and brown to black spots on its
wings
– Feeding, mating and finding a place for egg-laying take place during night
– During the day, adults hide in nearby shady plots
– Only dying adults can be found in a plant
– Adults live for only about 4 days
– The adult male dies after mating and the female moth dies after laying eggs
– Eggs are creamy-white, laid singly or in groups on the underside of the leaves, on
stems, flower buds, or at the base of the fruits
– The eggs are very small, sticky, firmly attached to the leaf surface
– The young caterpillar is whitish in color and turns light pink to light brown as it
matures
• Symptoms they produce:
– Larva bores into tender shoots and causes withering of terminal shoots (dead hearts)
 – The young larvae bore into petioles of leaves, flower buds and developing buds,
cause withering of leaves, shedding of buds and make fruits unfit for consumption
– Larvae bore into fruits and start eating from inside
– There may be small darkened holes surrounded with brownish areas on fruit surface
and/or fruit stalks
– The inside of the fruit is hollow and filled with frass
– Attacked fruits are with bore holes plugged with excreta
– Fruits become mis-shapen also
– Infestation can be very serious with up to 75% of the fruits being damaged
Extend of infestation observed:

Hadda beetle, Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata

Family: Coccinellidae
Order: Coleoptera

• Description of the pest:

– The adult is oval to round in shape, orange-red to brownish-yellow in color and has
12 or 28 black spots on the back
– Female lays clusters of oval, yellow eggs on the undersides of leaves
– Incubation period 4-5 days, larva are pale yellow in color and body covered with
branched spines
– Fully grown larvae are dark yellow, broad, with a dark head
– Larval development takes about 2 weeks
– Adults fall to the ground or fly when they are disturbed and the young normally stay
in place
• Symptoms:
– Both adults and larvae damage the leaves by eating the soft outer tissue skeletonizes
and leaving “windows” in the leaves
– Leaf tissue is eaten between the veins, sometimes being completely stripped to the
midrib
– When leaves are damaged, less area is left for the energy production (photosynthesis)
– This results in weaker plants or production delay
– In a heavy attack, young plants may be killed
– Sometimes, holes are eaten in fruits
Extend of infestation observed:

Leaf hopper, Amrasca biguttula biguttula

Family: Cicadellidae
Order: Hemiptera

• Description of the pest:

– The nymph is light green translucent found in between the veins of the leaves on the
under surface
– The adults may be found on the foliage in large numbers, and move around by
jumping, but fly very readily when disturbed
– The nymphs are smaller than the adults and wingless
– They move around very rapidly, seeking refuge on the underside of the leaves if
disturbed
 • Symptoms:
– Both nymphs and adults suck the sap from leaves
– However the damage is noticed on old leaves with a yellowish green mosaic
symptom followed by brown necrosis along the leaf margin
– Small young nymphs are seen on the underside of leaves
– Infested leaves curl upward in margins
– When the incidence is severe, the necrotic spots coalesce forming brown patches
– Little leaf disease is transmitted by it
Extend of infestation observed:

Shoot or stem borer, Euzophera particella

Family:
Order: Lepidoptera

• Description of the pest:

– Larva is yellowish or light brown with red head
– Adult moth is with grayish brown forewings having transverse lines and white hind
wings
• Symptoms:
– The larva bores into stem which results in stunted growth, withering and wilting of
plants
– Stem and leaf axils covered with excreta covering the bore holes
Extend of infestation observed:

Aphid, Myzus persicae and Aphis gossypii

Family: Aphididae
Order: Hemiptera
Various aphid species can attack eggplants, including Myzus persicae and Aphis gossypii.
• Description of the pest:
– These small insects are often globular in form, and exist generally in large colonies
on the underside of leaves, on young shoots and on flower buds
– The aphids have cornicle
– The color of the insect varies according to the species, the host crop and the stage of
development, and can be ashy-gray, black, brown, green or yellow
– Most of the aphids are without wings but have winged generations at certain times in
their development cycle
– The winged aphids are slightly longer than the wingless ones and have a dark-
colored head and body
– The veins on the wings appear brown to black in color
• Damage Symptoms:
– Aphids can damage a crop in several ways:
– They suck plant sap. At high aphid populations, less sap with nutrients is left for the
plant resulting in poorer growth and lower production of fruits
– Leaves wrinkle and can remain very small.
– They produce honeydew, which forms a sticky layer on the plant and fruits and make
it ‘dirty’
– Fungus mould can start growing on the honeydew
 – Aphids can transmit virus diseases (when there are winged aphids)
– Aphids (and their moulded skins) on products lowers quality and price
– Aphids appear very localized: they usually colonize just a few plants but can be very
abundant on one plant
Extend of infestation observed:

Red Spider Mite, Tetranychus urticae

• Description of the pest:

– Spider mites inhabit the lower surface of leaves and cause damage by making large
numbers of tiny punctures in the leaf and sucking out the sap
– Attacked leaves often have a silvery, “peppered” appearance, particularly along the
veins.
– The adults, about 0.5 - 1 mm long and just visible to the naked eye are protected by
the fine webs which they spin on the leaf surface
– The adults are orange-red to yellow-brown in color
– Eggs are yellow
– They move slowly and cannot fly
• Plant damage and compensation
– Spider mites suck sap from the plant
– This can result in poor growth of the plant, deformation of leaves and shoots,
chlorosis, browning, etc
– The leaf is often “peppered” with tiny colorless points alongside the veins, which
sometimes give an almost silvered appearance to the leaf
– This eventually results in reduced production
– The eggplant fruits are attacked only when mite populations are very high
Extend of infestation observed:
 Studies on Pests of Okra

Whitefly: Bemisia tabaci

Aleyrodidae, Hemiptera
• Identification of the pest
Nymph:
• Is greenish yellow, oval in outline
Adult:
• Is minute insects with yellow body covered with a white waxy bloom
• Symptoms of damage
• Chlorotic spots on the leaves which latter coalesce forming irregular yellowing of
leaf tissue
• Severe infestation results in premature defoliation
• Development of sooty mould
• Vector of yellow vein mosaic virus

Aphid – Aphis gossypii

Aphididae, Hemiptera
• Identification of the pest
Nymphs
• Yellowish or greenish brown found on the undersurface of leaves.
Adults
Are greenish brown, soft bodied and small insects
• Symptoms of damage:
– Infesting tender shoots and under surface of the leaves.
– Curling and crinkling of leaves
– Stunted growth
– Development of black sooty mould due to the excretion of honey dew

Jassid, Amrasca biguttula biguttula

Cicadellidae, Hemiptera
• Seasonal occurrence
– Widely distributed
– Mostly seen at seedling stage, some times found almost throughout the year
• Identifying characters:
– Nymphs are pale greenish almost translucent and walk diagonally.
– Adults are greenish yellow, wedge shaped with a pair of black spots on vertex and a
black spot on each of the forewings.
– Female inserts eggs into leaf veins on the underside.
• Nature of damage
– Nymphs and adults suck sap usually from the under surface of the leaves and inject
toxins causing curling of leaf edges and leaves turn red or brown
– The leaves dry up and shed.
 – Economic threshold level: 2-3 Jassids per leaf

Gram pod borer

Noctuidae, Lepidoptera
Identification of the pest
Eggs
– Are sculptured and creamy white in colour, laid singly
Larva
– Shows colour variation from greenish to brown.
– It has dark brown grey lines on the body with lateral white lines and also has dark
band
Pupa
– Brown in colour, occurs in soil, leaf, pod and crop debris
Adult
– A stout bodied light brown nocturnal moth with a wingspan of 32-40 mm
– The body length is 16-18 mm
– Fore wing
– Olive green to pale brown with a dark brown circular spot in the centre
– Hind wing
– Is pale smoky white with a broad blackish outer margin.
Symptoms of damage:
– Young larvae feed on tender foliage
– Mature larvae bore circular holes
– Thrust only a part of its body into fruit and eat the inner content
 Pest of tomato

Gram pod borer (Tomato fruit borer), Helicoverpa armigera

Family: Noctuidae
Order: Lepidoptera
• Description of the pest:
– Eggs are sculptured and creamy white in colour, laid singly
– Larva shows colour variation from greenish to brown.
– It has dark brown grey lines on the body with lateral white lines and also has dark
band
– Pupa brown in colour, occurs in soil, leaf, pod and crop debris
– Adult is stout bodied light brown nocturnal moth with a wingspan of 32-40 mm.,
body length is 16-18 mm
– Fore wing olive green to pale brown with a dark brown circular spot in the centre
– Hind wing is pale smoky white with a broad blackish outer margin.
Symptoms of damage:
– Young larvae feed on tender foliage
– Mature larvae bore circular holes
– Thrust only a part of its body into fruit and eat the inner content
Extend of infestation observed:

Serpentine Leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolli

Family: Agromyzidae
Order: Diptera
• Description of the pest:
– Larva minute orange yellowish apodous maggots.
– Pupa yellowish brown pupates within mines.
– Adult pale yellow in colour
• Symptoms of damage
– Leaves with serpentine mines
– Mining symptom on leaf
– Drying and dropping of leaves
Extend of infestation observed:

Whitefly: Bemisia tabaci

Family: Aleyrodidae
Order: Hemiptera
• Description of the pest
– Egg pear shaped, light yellowish, stalked
– Nymph on hatching - Oval, scale-like, greenish white
– Adult white, tiny, scale-like adults
• Symptoms of damage
– Chlorotic spots
 – Yellowing
– Downward curling and drying of leaves.
– Vector of tomato leaf curl disease.
Extend of infestation observed:

Aphid: Aphis gossypii

Family: Aphididae
Order: Hemiptera
• Description of the pest:
– Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects with a pair of tubular structures
– Nymphs are light yellowish green, or greenish black or brownish
– Adults are mostly wingless, but few winged forms can also be seen with thin
transparent wings
• Symptoms of damage:
– Both adults and nymphs suck sap from the tender leaves, twigs and buds, and
weakens the plants
– Leaf crumbling and downwards curling
– Leaves appear shiny and sticky due to honey dew excreted by the insects
– Later, sooty mold grow on honey dew and leaves have a black coating
– 15-20% affected plants counted randomly or appearance of honey dew on 50%
plants
Extend of infestation observed:

Red spider mite, Tetranychus spp

• Identification of the pest

– Eggs – hyaline, globular laid in mass
– Nymphs – yellowish in colour
– Adult – red coloured small sized
• Symptoms of damage
– Affected leaves become reddish brown and bronzy
– Severe infestation larvae silken webbing on the leaves
– Leaves wither and dry
– Flower and fruit formation affected
Extend of infestation observed:

Pest of Chilli

Chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis

Family: Thripidae
Order: Thysanoptera
• Description of the pest:
– Nymph and adult
 – The adults are slender, yellowish brown in colour, having apically pointed wings,
and they measure about 1 mm in length
– The female possess long, narrow wings with the fore margin fringed with long hairs
– The nymphs resemble the adults in shape and colour but are wingless and smaller in
size
• Symptoms:
– Damage is caused by the adults as well as by the nymphs
– Both nymphs and adults lacerate leaf tissues
– They also feed beneath calyx of flowers and fruits
– Leaves become crinkled, curled upward and shed
– Buds become brittle and drop down
– Plants get stunted and bronzed
Extend of infestation observed:

Aphid, Myzus persicae

Family: Aphididae
Order: Hemiptera
• Symptoms:
• Appear on the tender shoots leaves and lower surface of leaf
• Suck plant sap and reduce plant vigour
• Secrets sweet substances, attract ants and develops sooty mould
• Pods that develops black colour due to sooty mould lose quality and fetch low price
• Spray with 0.1% Dimethoate or Methyl demeton @ 2ml/lt of water or Imidachlorpid
@ 1 ml/ 5 lt of water
• Spray with alternate chemicals at 10 days interval till the aphid population is checked
• Winged forms are migrated from one field to another rapidly
• So, spraying is to be done as far as possible within a day or two by all the cultivators
of a particular locality
• Spread leaf curl disease of chilli
Extend of infestation observed:
Yellow mite : Polyphagotarsonemus latus
• Description of the pest:
– Oval shaped eggs and white in colour
– Eggs glued firmly on the leaf surface
– Nymphs white in colour
– Adult is large, oval and broad and yellowish in colour
• Symptoms
– Nymphs and adults suck sap from leaves.
– Affected leaves curl downward along the margins of the leaf and attain an inverted
boat shape.
– Leaf petioles elongated and small leaves serrated and looks like bunchy appearance.
– Leaves turn to dark grey in colour and reduce leaf sheath, stops flowering and
considerable yield reduction.
– In severe cases fruit wall becomes hard and white strips appears on the fruit.
Extend of infestation observed:
 Pest of sweet potato
Sweet potato weevil: Cylas formicarius
Family: Curculionidae
Order: Coleoptera
• Identification of the pest
– Egg
• It is oval, and yellowish-white
• It is laid singly in small cavities on the sweet potato root or base of the vine
• The cavity is then sealed with a plug of the mother's excrement
– Larva
• It is a legless grub, white in colour
• Head is comparatively large and brown or pale yellow
– Pupa
• Pupation takes place in the feeding tunnel
• Pupa is whitish
– Adult
• Weevils are beetles with a long pointed snout.
• The body of the sweet potato weevil is slender resembling ants
• Symptoms of Damage
– Thickening and malformation of vines and often cracking of the tissue.
– Discoloration, cracking, or wilting of damaged wines
– An infested tuber is often riddled with cavities or tunnels
– Attacked tubers become spongy, brownish to blackish in appearance
– Start rotting form the top and develop an unpleasant smell and a bitter taste
Extend of infestation observed:

Tortoise beetles: Aspidiomorpha miliaris, Cassida circumdata

Family: Chrysomellidae
Order: Coleoptera
• Identification of the pest:
– Grub
• Oval, flattened yellowish with spiny processes covering the body
– Pupa
• Is less spiny than the larva, and is fixed to the leaf
• Symptoms of damage
– Young grub scrape on the upper surface of the leaves
– Older grub and adults bite large round holes in the leaves
• Adult:
– Aspidiomorpha miliaris
• Broad oval shaped brownish red in colour With black dots
– Cassida circumdata
• Broad oval shaped, greenish yellow in colour with green crescent mark in
middle
Extend of infestation observed: