Pistachio bark beetle
Scientific name: Chaetoptelius vestitusFamily: Scolytidae DESCRIPTION AND LIFE CYCLE This is a small beetle (3 mm), brownish black in colour, with stiff bristles on the elytra. In April, the adult starts boring tunnels on the tips of young shoots near the spot where it overwintered and in May, it destroys newly formed buds. It creates […]
Pistachio Shoot-hole borer
Scientific name: ThyrsostomagueriniFamily: Heliodinidae This is a small, yellowish moth 4-5 mm long with a wingspan of 12-14 mm. When seated, its body forms a characteristic 35o angle with the sitting surface. It overwinters either as an egg or as larva (6 mm long worm, yellowish with a brown head) near or in the buds […]
The pistachio leaf hopper
Scientific name: Idiocerus staliFamily: Cicadellidae DESCRIPTION AND LIFE CYCLE They are of few millimetres long (3-4), their wings form a roof over their back, they are greenish yellow in the summer and reddish in the winter and look like little cicadas in shape. Their back legs are specially designed for jumping. They overwinter as adults […]
The pistachio seed wasp. A significant insect pest of the pistachio.
The pistachio seed waspScientific name: Εurytoma plotnikoviFamily: Eurytomidae These insects are 4-5 mm long, and the females are larger than the males, with a brown-black head and thorax, red-yellow abdomen and red eyes; males are black with yellow-red legs and resemble small wasps. The have one generation per year. They overwinter as full-grown larvae (worms […]