Faunestic survey of the pests and natural enemies associated with Euphrates poplar in Khuzestan province

Khuzestan province accounts as the most important natural habitats for Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica Olive) in Iran. During 2008–2011, the harmful & benefical arthropods fauna associated with Euphrates poplar were studied in three selected sites of natural stands of Khuzestan province. The studies carried out every 15-30 days during the growing seasons of the host plant. Samples were mainly collected by Schneider trap, direct hand, collecting of infected tree branches, as well as rearing immature instars of the pests on seedlings in controlled conditions. Cooperation of various senior experts inside and outside of the country was used to assist recognizing insect species. A total of 23 pest species belonging to 16 families of 5 orders and also, 12 species of predatory arthropods belonging to 7 families of 5 orders were collected and identified as follows. Among the introduced pests, 11 species were more important in terms of contamination and damage, among which 8 species were common in the three studied habitats. A number of species were mainly collected for the first time from the mentioned localities. Gypsonoma euphraticana Aims., Gypsonoma spp., Lithocolletis sp., Phyllocnistis sp., Cerura vinula L., Harpyia leucotera Stichel, Egeirotrioza intermedia Baeva, Egeirotrioza ceardi (Bergevin), Egeirotrioza sp., Syntomoza unicolor (Loginova & Parfentiev), Chaitophorus euphraticus Hodjat, Pachypappa sp., Salicicola kermanensis Lndgr., Diaspidiotus slavonicus (Green), Ceroplastes rusci (Linnaeus), Monosteira unicostata (Muls. & Rey), Apodiphus amygdali Germar, Tetranychus urticae Koch, Melanophyla picta Pall., Capnodis miliaris Klug, Microcerotermes buettikeri Chhotani& Bose, Microcerotermes diversus Silvestri, Anacanthotermes vagans (Hagen).Coccinella undecimpunctata L., Coccinella septempunctata L., Chilochorus bipustulatus L., Scymnus sp., Orius laticollis (Reuter), Anthocoris sp., Deraeocoris (Phaeocapsus) pilipes (Reuter), Deraeocoris sp., Chrysoperla carnea Steph., Anystis baccarum (Linn), Xysticus sp., Cheiranthium sp.