Ecology and Management of White Mango Scale, Aulacaspis tubercularis Newstead (Homoptera: Diaspididae) in Ethiopia

Mango is grown in more than 100 countries. However, many Arthropd insect pests attack mango, among which scale insects are the most devastating. Aulacuspis tubercularis Newstead (Homoptera: Diaspididae), commonly known as the white mango scale, is a serious insect pest of mango in many mango-growing countries, including Ethiopia. The ecology, host and cardinal direction preferences, presence of natural enemies (predators and parasitoids), and management aspects, including botanical extracts, are not well studied in Ethiopia. Therefore, the survey was conducted to determine the distribution, incidence, severity status, and knowledge of farmers’ occurrence and management practices of the pest in western, southwestern, northwestern, northeastern, central rift valleys, and eastern Ethiopia. The results of the field survey confirmed that the RAJ Agro Industry Loco mango commercial farm was the 1st locus of A. tubercularis accidental emergence and distributed to the neighboring administrative zones and regions of the country up to maximum air distances of 239, 277, 380, and 436 km in the western, southwestern, eastern and northern directions, respectively. Among the respondents, approximately 63% indicated that different cultural practices, such as tree smoking and pruning of heavily infested branches, are used for management practices. The incidence of A. tubercularis cluster (ATC) formation in the infested zones varied from 60 to 100% and was significantly (P