Osservazioni bio-etologiche su Peliococcus cycliger (Leonardi, 1908) (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)

Peliococcus cycliger (Leonardi) (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) produces three generations in a year in Apulia, on Olea europaea L. The mealybug is oviparous and parthenogenetic; males are rare. The mealybug dislikes high temperatures. The first generation of P. cycliger lives on the branches, the second protects itself in the bark crevices, or under Saissetia oleae (Oliv.) and Lichtensia viburni Sign. The first instar of the third generation overwinters inside waxy cocoons. Crematogaster scutellaris Oliv. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) attends to the mealybug and the endoparasitoid Anagyrus How. sp. (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae) partially controls the scale. Damage is not reported on olive-trees