Important Insect Pests of Pulses

Common Name Scientific Name

1. Gram Pod Borer Helicoverpa armigera
2.Blue Butterfly Lampides boeticus
3. Plume Moth Exelastis atomosa
4. Spotted Pod Borer Maruca testulalis
5. Field Bean Pod Borer Adisura atkinsoni
6. Spiny Pod Borer Etiella zinckenella
7. Red Gram Pod Fly Melanagromyza obtusa
8. Stem Fly Ophiomyia phaseoli
9. Blister Beetle Mylabris pustulata
10. Bean Aphid Aphis craccivora
11. Whitefly Bemisia tabaci
12. Pod Bug Clavigralla gibbosa
13. Green Leafhopper Empoasca kerri
1. GRAM Pod Borer- Helicoverpa armigera
(Noctuidae: Lepidoptera)
 Nature & Symptoms of Damage

The young caterpillars feed on the tender foliage and as they

grow they bore into the pods and destroy the seeds, while
feeding it thrusts its head inside the pod leaving the rest of its
body outside. Pods with round holes.
Egg,larva and adult of
gram pod borer
 2. Blue butterfly: Lampides boeticus
(Lycaenidae: Lepidoptera)

Adult moth is grayish blue with prominent black spots in the

hind wings and a long tail, Ventral side of wings with
numerous stripes and brown spots.
Egg,larva, pupa and adult of Blue Butterfly
 Bionomics

It lays eggs singly or in group of 2-3 on flower

buds, green pods, shoots and leaves. The egg
period is 4-7 days. The larva is pale green with
a rough skin and measures 1 mm in length. The
larval period is 9-27 days. It pupates in leaf,
twig or pod. The pupal period lasts for 17-19
days.
Management

1. Discourage dense or close planting.

2. Avoid early or late sowing.
3. Dig soil regularly during the period of infestation to kill larvae
and pupae.
4. Pick and destroy the larvae, pupae & adults.
5. Release egg parasitoid Trichogramma sp.
6. Chemical control measures are the same as Helicoverpa
armigera
 3. Plume Moth: Exelastis atomosa
(Pterophoridae: Lepidoptera)

Moth is slender, less than 12 mm long and are grey with long
narrow wings.
•The forewings are divided into two parts and hindwings into
three parts and provided with a fringe like border.
•The full grown caterpillar is about 12 mm long greenish brown,
and are fringed with short hairs and spines all over the body.
 4. Spotted pod borer: Maruca testulalis
(Pyraustidae: Lepidoptera)

Identification of the pest

Larva: Greenish white with brown head. It has two pairs of dark spots
on the back of each segment.
• Adult: Forewing slight brown colour with white markings; Hindwings
– white colour with brown markings at the lateral edge.

Larva and its infestation

Mass excreta can be seen at the entrance of larval burrow.
 5. Field bean pod borer: Adisura atkinsoni
(Noctuidae: Lepidoptera)

Identification of the pest:

Larva greenish having brown lateral marking, It has humped anal
segment
Adult moths are yellowish brown in colour, forewings yellow
coloured with ‘V’ shaped specks, hindwings – has pale brown
marking.
Bionomics

Eggs are laid singly on flowers, buds and pods. The eggs are
minute in size. The egg, larval and pupal periods lasts 3, 14-15 and
11 days respectively.

Nature & Symptoms of Damage

The larva bores inside the pod and feeds on the seeds within.
 6. Spiny pod borer: Etiella zinckenella
(Phycitidae: Lepidoptera)
Symptoms of damage:
• Dropping of flowers and young pods
• Older pods marked with a brown spot where a larvae has entered
Identification of the pest:
• Larva – greenish initially, turns pink before pupation.
• It has 5 black spots on the prothorax
• Adult
• Brownish grey moth
• Prothorax – orange in colour
• Fore wing has a white stripe along the anterior margin
 7. Red gram pod fly: Melanagromyza obtusa
(Agromyzidae: Diptera)
Identification of the pest:
• Adult: It is a small metallic black fly
Maggots are creamy white coloured.
Bionomics

Eggs are laid singly or in cluster inside the pod wall by piercing through the
ovipositor. The fly lays about 60-80 eggs. Incubation period is 2-4 days. Larval
period is about 5-18 days and pupal period varies from 7-10 days.

Nature & Symptoms of Damage

• Dark brown encrustation on the pod wall
• Dry pods showing pin head size hole
• Seeds shriveled, striped and partially eaten
 8. Stem fly: Ophiomyia phaseoli
(Agromyzidae: Diptera)
• Symptoms of damage:
• Drooping of the tender leaves and seedling wilt
• Yellowing of young plants. Stem become swollen and start ribbing
where maggot and pupae present
Identification of the pest:
• Maggot, Small yellow coloured.
• Adult, Tiny, black fly
Bionomics

The adult is a small black fly. A female lays 38-79 eggs singly on
pods or on flower buds. The egg period lasts about 3 days.
The maggot first makes galleries just below the epidermis of the
seed feeding deeper into the seeds later. Larval period lasts for
5-6 days.
The larva pupates in the larval groove for 8-9 days.
 9. Blister beetle: Mylabris pustulata
(Meloidae: Coleoptera)
Damage symptoms
The adult feeds voraciously on buds and flowers. A single
beetle can destroy as many as 20-30 flowers/day.

Bionomics
The eggs are laid by female beetle in clusters of 60-80 eggs
at 2-3 cm depth in soil. Eggs are light yellowish in colour and
cylindrical in shape. Incubation period is about three weeks.
Young grubs are white in colour. It pupates inside the soil
tunnel.
 10. Pod Bug: Clavigralla gibbosa
(Coreidae: Hemiptera)
Bionomics

It lays eggs in groups of 3-15 on pods or leaves. The fecundity is

60-400 eggs per female. The incubation period is 4 days. There are
5 nymphal instars. The nymphal duration varies from 7-31 days.
The adult bug lives upto 150 days.

Nature & Symptoms of Damage

The nymphs and adults suck the juice of unripe seeds from the green
pods. In case of severe infestation the tender parts get shrivelled and
later dries up. The bugs are seen clustered around on the pods.
 11. Bean aphid: Aphis craccivora
(Aphididae: Hemiptera)

Nymphs and Adult – dark coloured with cornicles in the abdomen

Bionomics
It is a greenish black coloured aphid. The total life cycle occupies an
average of 3-8 days. It reproduces parthenogenetically and viviparously.
The female may produce 8-30 young ones in a life span of 10-12 days. The
nymphs transform into adult in 5-8 days after passing through four instars.
 Nature & Symptoms of Damage

Both nymphs and adults suck sap from tender leaves

and shoots resulting in twisting of leaves, poor pod
development, devitalization of plants and black sooty
mould. It acts as a vector of Rosette disease in
groundnut and broad bean virus in pea.
 12. Whitefly: Bemisia tabaci
(Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera)

Symptoms of damage:
• Leave mottled and yellowish in colour
• vector of yellow mosaic virus
Identification of the pest:
• Adults are small, yellow bodied insects with white wings which are densely
covered with a waxy powder.
• Nymphs and pupae are black and round or oval. Pupae have marginal bristles.
Adult Eggs.
 13. Green leafhopper: Empoasca kerri
(Cicadellidae: Hemiptera)

Adult – elongate, active, wedge shape, green insects

Small greenish yellow nymphs and adults suck sap from leaves
resulting in severe case, the leaves turn brown, dry and brittle, a
condition called “hopper burn”.
•Attacked leaflets become cup shaped and yellow at edges. Heavy
attack result in the leaflets turning red-brown with subsequent
defoliation and stunting.