New insect pests of sugarcane in India

Abstract

Five new insect pests were observed to infest sugarcane at Kannur in Kerala and at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. The leaf minerAphanisticus aeneus Kerremans, was found to feed on all the species ofSaccharum exceptS. sinense. The laminar pubescence and colour did not appear to play any role in antixenosis.Chrysonolomyia sp. was found parasitising its pupae gregariously. Beetles of the leaf scraperCallispa vittata Baly fed on all the species ofSaccharum, Indian and foreign hybrids, Indo-American clones and onErianthus spp. However, accessions with pubescent or purple coloured lamina were not attacked. The white grubHeteronychus annulatus Bates, adults fed on the under ground portion of 2 to 3 months old shoots of sugarcane. The feeding resulted in drying of +4 and inner leaves of the spindle forming dead-hearts. Adults of the flea beetleChaetocnema basalis Baly, fed on sugarcane leaves by scraping both the surfaces of the lamina. They were active on the plants in the morning hours and remained hidden in the leaf whorls during the hot hours of the day. The scale insectAclerda takahashii (Kuwana) with Igloo shaped body was found only in the lower half of the sugarcane stalk as solitary pests only at the groves formed by the leaf sheath scar in the nodes. Attempts to make the crawlers settle in the internodal region by providing physical barriers did not succeed.