تسجيل جديد لنوع من الحشرات القشرية المدرعة في العراق

Abstract EN

New record of armored scale insect Diaspidiotus gigas (Thiem and Gerneck) 1934in Baghdad and Dohuk on leaves, branches and stems of Populus sp.

during 2008-2010.

These insects belong to order Hemiptera and sub order Sternorrhyncha , super family Coccoidea and family Diaspididae and tribe Aspidiotini.

The identification are depended on the adult female characters.

Armored scale insects most important that attacked leaves , fruits ,stems of trees and shrubs, others feeding on herbaceous plants.

The insects secrete honeydew under the scale.

Causing the secretion of toxic saliva during the feed direct damage for plants, which impedes the function of textile plant tissue and distortion.

leaves color, change and fall, and then plant will die .The adult female can be distinguished as small in size(1-2mm), covered with separated scale from the body.

Antennae and legless reduce, the last fifth abdominal segments fused and forming area called pygidium which is important in the diagnosis of species.The anus is on the dorsal surface.

This species distributes in wild world such as Palaearctic region and Nearctic region.It attacks four plant genera belong to three plant families in the world, Betalaceae,Tiliaceae, and Salicaceae.

The morphological characters were study for adult female and with the other species which nearest Diaspidiotus pyri (Lichtenstein) 1881 as studied taxonomic keys and explaining the resemblances and different points for both species.