مطالعه برخي از ويژگي هاي رفتاري سوسك چوبخوار صنوبر

Studies on Some Ethological Characteristics of Melanophila picta Pall. (Col.: Buprestidae)

Poplar stem borer beetle Melanophila picta pall. (Col.: Buprestidae) is one of the important pests of the poplars in West Azarbaidjan. The initiation and termination of the activity of the pest is from June to August under Urumia climatic conditions. The peak emergence of the adults takes place in August. This pest has a clumped distribution. It was revealed that the adults were attracted to the rectangular sticky trap from 300 m. distance. The highest activity of M. picta, was noticed to be during sunny and warm conditions. It prefers the host trees located at the south and west corner edges of the poplar plantations. The visited places on the tree often are located 1.5 m. above ground level. It was revealed that M picta, is attracted to the poplar extract more than other attractants tested and the same trend was observed in preferring the ordinary light against yellow light. The efficacy of silver colour trap with aluminium foil was more than other color traps. The sex ratio of female to male was 1.1. This pest is thermotactic and the female probes the stalk of the host trees for detection of favourite places for oviposition. Therefore, the trees with small cracks on their barks are more sensitive to M. pieta, than others.