Diagnostic characters of date palm insect pests in Jordan

Abstract: Field trips were conducted at weekly to monthly intervals in the Jordan Valley area and once per two to six months in Aqaba area from 1999 to 2014 to collect date palm pests from different locations in the Jordan Valley and Aqaba. Seventeen insect species were found to occur in Jordan. From these, eleven insect pest species were newly recorded attacking date palm trees in Jordan, namely: Asterolecanium phoenicis Ram. Rao (green scale), Phoenicoccus marlatii Cockerell (red date scale), Ommatissus binotatus lybicus De Bergevin (dubas bug), Adiheteothrips jambudvipae Ramok (taleh thrips), Batrachedra amydraula Myer (lesser date moth or hummairah), Arenipses sabella (Humpsn) (great date moth), Oryctes rhinoceros L. (rhinoceros beetle borer), Carpophilus dimidiatus F. (corn sap beetle), Carpophilus hemipterusL. (dried fruit beetle), Carpophilus mutilates and Urophorus humeralis (pineapple beetle). Three other insect pest species were newly recorded on date palm as a host namely: Vespa orientalis (oriental wasp), Drosophila melanogaster (vinegar fly) and Blattella germanica(German cockroach).