Search

Inspection started from the Lecce city center, namely from the main public park or garden, then extended to orchards and boundaries searching for infested plants. The specimens collected mainly came from young fully mature leaves from the basal part of the infested trees. On infested trees puparia and eggs can be easily collected and black adults can be spotted at the top twigs. Otherwise A. spiniferus is usually on the underside of the leaves. Puparia were slidemounted by quick-mounts method (Martin et al., 2000) or in Canada balsam following the suggestions of Pizza and Porcelli (1993) and Martin (1999). The black puparia were bleached with a cold mixture of 30-volume ammonia and 20-volume hydrogen peroxide (Martin, 1999; Anonymous, 2004). Mounted specimens were identified following Silvestri (1928), Bink-Moenen (1983), Kanmiya et al. (2011), Martin (1987 and 1999). The laboratory notes and the observations were taken by stereomicroscope, light compound microscope and Hitachi TM3000 low pressure SEM. By the end of 2009 OSW infested 68 of the 97 municipalities of Lecce district but the intensity of its infestation varied. In 2010 the pest infested 88 municipalities, except Diso, Guagnano, Melendugno, Novoli, Salice Salentino, Squinzano, Trepuzzi, Uggiano la Chiesa and Veglie. In 2011 OSW started to spread into the villages of the Adriatic coast.Apparently Melendugno and Diso were not infested by it. In 2011 A. spiniferus was found on a Citrus limon in a private garden from San Pancrazio Salentino, a village in the Brindisi district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuta absoluta also known as the leafminer of tomatoes is an invasive pest able to destroy an entire field or greenhouse with tomato plants in a few days. With this study we intend to prove the preference of larvae for pupation. For the study we have used leaves from five plant species: tomato, eggplant, pepper, fig, and Solanum nigrum. Three randomly chosen types of leaves were placed in Petri dish. The most prevalent preference of larvae was for the tomato leaves, followed by Solanum nigrum while the eggplant showed little attraction for the larvae and pepper leaves were untouched. From this study we can conclude that tomato leaves were the most preferred by T. absoluta larvae for their pupation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]