piercing and sucking insect pest? what are piercing and sucking pest? to understand what is piercing and sucking insect, we must first understand what are insects. Piercing and sucking pest insects can also be endo or ecto-parasites. insect are in a group of flying or crawling organism that possesses six legs and divided into three compartment.
an insect is divided into three parts, these various parts of a typical insect are
- head
- thorax
- abdomen
the thorax part of a typical insect houses the legs and wings used for walking and flying
what are piercing and sucking insect pest
piercing and sucking insect pest are those types of insect that possesses mouth parts that are used for sucking. The mouth parts of sucking insects are developed for piercing and sucking fluids. These pests damages plants by inserting their mouth parts into plant tissue and removing juices.
the mouth parts of a piercing insect is well adapted for piercing through skins of other organisms for the sole purpose of sucking either fruit juice of blood of animals for feeding. an example of this types organism is the mosquito and house fly. the next paragraph we will be looking into the nature and parts of these piercing and sucking insect of crop.
Piercing and Sucking Insect Pests mouth
The mouth parts of these insects are shaped like injection needles and are thus adapted to piercing (that is penetrating into the plant part) and sucking (that is removing plant fluid). read more about holozoic mechanisms mode of feeding here
here is my post on biting and chewing insects
you can also read more here on insects
The effect of piercing and sucking insect pest of crop
These piercing and sucking habits of the insects lead to] destruction of plant tissues, development of holes through which disease organisms can enter into the plant system and transfer or harmful germs from diseased plants to healthy ones. All these lea to weakening and eventual death of the plants affected.
Examples of Piercing and sucking insect pest
Boring insect Pests types of ectoparasites
These are insects that bore into plant tissues and seeds, kamples are stem borers of cereals and weevils such as beans, rice M maize weevils.
Other insects pests which may not fall into the above groups have been found to affect crops. An example is the weaving insect which causes the folding of the leaves of crops particularly vegetables.
list of piercing and sucking insect pests of crops and how they affect crops
1. Stem borer Sesamia spp. a typical example of piercing and sucking insect. this types of insect attacks the following crops and plants Cereals e.g. rice, maize sorghum Pest eats up the juicy centres of stems thus causing the crop to collapse and die Burn all crop remains in the farm after harvest, uproot and burn affected crops. Spray with gammalin 20 or DDT
3 Ear worms Maize. the maize ear worm is another example of piercing and sucking pest of crop. The larvae of this insect bore into the corn cobs or ears of maize thereby eating up the fresh grains.
in order to prevent the spread of this insect pest of crop,
Early planting of maize and the use of spray with gammalin 20 or DDT should be carried out on the far
4 Aphids Cocoa, groundnut, cowpea this is a type of piercing and sucking insects. They bite and pierce through the outer texture of growing plants, Sucking out the sap leading to stunting, distortion and defoliation in affected plants Spray affected crops with insecticides
5. Pod Borers insect pest (Maruca tesulalis) of Legumes e.g. Cowpea Pod Borers insect pest causes damage to the tender parts of the plants, by eating up the flower buds and pods. This leads to reduction in yield. Plant with resistant varieties. Spray with gammalin 20 or diagram.
roles of government in agriculture
6 Variegated Grasshopper (Zonocerus variegates) Yam, vegetables, rice, cassava, etc is another typical example of piercing and sucking insect pest of crop which Eats up leaves of plants.
Growing plannt and stem may be eaten too
to deal with the attack of this piercing and sucking insect, Spray with gammalin 20 or vetox 85
8 Cassava mealy bug (phenacoccus Manihoti) Cassava piercing and sucking insect attacks cassava plant.
Affected plants become stunted since the inter nodes are reduced. The tip begins to develop bunchy tops, the leaves die off finally, the whole plant looks like a candle stick.
Plant early is very key to curbing the pread of this insect pest on the farm. you can also Dip cassava cuttings in 0.1% Rogor or ultracide solution for 1 minute before planting. read about animal diseases and parasites here
9 Capsids Cocoa piercing and sucking insect pest of crop. The insect attack young shoots of cocoa tree and introduce toxic saliva into the plant. This saliva that is introduced kills the plant. the best way to prevent this from happening is to Spray with gammalin Cotton stainer (dysdercus superstitutious) Cotton is a type of piercing sucking insect Attacks opening cotton pods thus staining the lint and disfigure it Spray with the right insecticide, you can read about crop pest here in details
11 , maize and beans is a type of piercing and sucking pest Eat up the cotyledons of stored products. Spraying the stored produce with the right insecticide will kill off the insects Fruits worm piercing and sucking insect is typical insect whose larva eats up ripe fruits the best way to deal with this special fruit worms is to Spray with vetox insecticide
13 Termites of Oil palm, cassava, sugar cane, yam, etc. this is a type of piercing and sucking insect which destroys roots and seedlings of plants especially when young, it very important and advisable to Spray with aldrex 40.
Water crops regularly in the dry season during the early days of the plant life
14 Boll piercing, sucking insect of worms Cotton.
This type of piercing insect eat up succulent cotton boll.
Bolls drop off prematurely.
the best way to prevent the spread of this insect is to Pick and burn affected cotton bolls.
don’t forget to always Spray with the right insecticides
check out these recent posts
don’t forget to use the comment box and leave a message or suggestion and we will get back to you within seconds.
You must log in to post a comment.