Advances in Entomology, 2016, 4, 163-166
Published Online July 2016 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ae
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ae.2016.43017
A Note on the Natural Relocation of
Marchalina hellenica (Gennadius)
from Pine to Fir Trees
A. E. Tsagkarakis
*
, N. G. Emmanouel
Laboratory of Agricultural Zoology and Entomology, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Email:
*
atsagarakis@aua.gr
Received 28 June 2016; accepted 15 July 2016; published 18 July 2016
Copyright © 2016 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Marchalina hellenica (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Margarodidae) is the most important honeydew
producing insect in Greece. It was referred as monophagus, feeding exclusively on pine trees, until
1995 when it was successfully established on fir trees after artificial “inoculation” at Menalo and
Helmos mountains. In this scientific note, the first record of natural relocation of M. hellenica from
pine to fir trees is referred.
Keywords
Marchalina hellenica, Honeydew, Relocation, Abies cephalonica, Parnis, Oiti, Greece
1. Introduction
Marchalina hellenica (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Margarodidae) is the most significant honeydew producing in-
sect in Greece and neighboring countries (mainly in Turkey). Due to the installation and its feeding in the trunk
and the branches of pine trees, excretion of honeydew is caused, which the bee collects, processes and converts
to honey.
Other important to apiculture insects like Physokermes hemicryphus (Dalman), Eulecanium sericeum (Lin-
diger), Mindarus abietinus (Koch), Cinara spp. are present on fir trees, especially on Abies cephalonica Loudon.
Honey from fir trees constitutes the 5% - 10% of the annual honey production of Greece, contrary to that from
pine, which reaches 60% - 65% [1]-[5].
Marchalina hellenica was considered a monophagus species, feeding exclusively on Pinus, particularly P.
brutia Tenore, P. halepensis Miller, P. sylvestris L. and P. nigra (Arnold). However, Bacandritsos [2] [6] and
*
Corresponding author.
How to cite this paper: Tsagkarakis, A.E. and Emmanouel, N.G. (2016) A Note on the Natural Relocation of Marchalina hel-
lenica (Gennadius) from Pine to Fir Trees. Advances in Entomology, 4, 163-166. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ae.2016.43017