Mealybugs as emerging pests in protected vegetable crops in the Portuguese Oeste region

Abstract: A survey by questionnaire to 80 protected vegetable crops growers in the Oeste region revealed that 16% of the farmers had already their crops (mainly tomato) affected by mealybugs and that re-infestation by mealybugs was noticed in 60% of the affected greenhouses. The mealybug species were identified by prospecting along spring and summer 2016 and by answering to specific identification requests to Instituto Superior de Agronomia since 2009: they were Pseudococcus viburni and Phenacoccus madeirensis. Monitoring mealybugs in four crops belonging to two growers of Silveira, Torres Vedras, we observed that mealybug distribution inside the studied greenhouses was aggregated and concentrated nearby their walls.