| heal.abstract |
A survey was conducted in 1995, mainly in Central Greece, to record the native species of the genus Orius found by collecting plant samples; the seasonal abundance of Orius species had been studied also in 1992 and 1993 by identifying and counting those caught in Moericke water traps placed in fields of cotton, tomato and tobacco. The species of Orius that were found on several crops and weeds were O. niger (Wolff), O. vicinus Rib., O. laticollis Reuter, O. horvathi (Reuter), O. laevigatus (Fieber), O. pallidicornis (Reuter) and O. majusculus (Reuter). The two most widespread species were O. niger and O. pallidicornis. The first was found in pepper flowers and on the leaves of tomato plants, whereas O. pallidicornis was always recorded from the flowers of the weed Ecballium elaterium (L.). O. niger was the species caught most frequently in water traps, and more were caught in cotton than in tomato or tobacco fields. Although the number of O. niger peaked in August-September in both the years 1992 and 1993 in cotton fields, there was no definite pattern to the numbers caught in tomato and tobacco fields. |
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