ARMOURED SCALES (HOMOPTERA : DIASPIDIDAE) ASSOCIATED WITH TEMPERATE AND SUBTROPICAL FRUIT TREES IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Scale insects are very important pests of fruit trees and they suck the sap from the above ground plant parts thereby causing the injury. The survey work brought to light eleven species of scale insects infesting different fruit trees in nine districts of Himachal Pradesh. The infestations of following diaspidids viz., Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell) was recorded on Citrus spp. (hill lemon, rough lemon, sweet lime, sweet orange) and grapes, A. orientalis (Newstead) on guava, mango and olive, Aulacaspis tubercularis (Newstead), Chrysomphalus dictyospermi (Morgan), Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret), and Octaspidiotus tripurensis Takagi on mango, Chlidaspis asiatica (Archangelskaya) on apple and plum, Morganella longispina (Morgan) on olive and walnut, Parlatoria oleae (Clovee) on apple, apricot, pear, plum and sweet cherry, Pseudaulacaspis manni (Green) on walnut and Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Comstock) on apple, peach, pear and plum. Out of the above mentioned diaspidids C. asiatica is reported for the first time from India, infesting apple and plum besides, A. tubercularis, C. dictyospermi, H. lataniae, O. tripurensis, M. longispina and P. manni are reported for the first time from Himachal Pradesh. The distribution, host fruit plants and identification key to all these species are discussed.