According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), two types of ladybird beetles are among the three indigenous bugs found to be the biological weapons against a Caribbean-origin enemy of Indian fruit farmers — the woolly whitefly.
Ladybird beetles and Green lacewing fly
Two of these indigenous predators (bugs) were ladybird beetles of the Coccinellidae family and one was the green lacewing fly from the Neuroptera order.
Woolly whitefly
The woolly whitefly first described from Jamaica in 1896 and noticed in Florida, U.S. in 1909.
The woolly whitefly pests damage 30-35% of crops in the country annually.
This whitefly (Aleurothrixus floccosus) is invasive and polyphagous, meaning a creature that feeds on various kinds of food.
ICAR’s National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources in Bengaluru had in 2019 reported the spread of the pest from the Caribbean island through transportation of infested seedlings.
That year, the pest was recorded from guava plantations in Kozhikode district of Kerala, Ramanagara, Mandya and Bengaluru Rural districts of Karnataka and Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu.
Source: The Hindu
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