Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet EditionCitrus crusader bug (382)
Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet EditionCitrus crusader bug (382)
Summary
- Restricted distribution. In Oceania, Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Samoa, Wallis and Futuna, and Vanuatu. Hosts include acacia, eucalyptus, citrus, papaya, beans, and other legumes, grape, tomato and rose.
- Nymphs dark brown, late stages with two orange dots on the abdomen; adults grey to brown with yellow cross in their backs.
- Damage: adults and nymphs pierce shoots with sucking mouth parts cause wilts. A minor pest of citrus and wattles (acacias). A potential biocontrol for Mimosa pigra.
- Natural enemies: birds, spiders, assassin bugs and wasp parasitoids.
- Cultural control: hand pick if numbers are low: they are slow moving.
- Chemical control: unlikely that insecticides needed, but if they are, spot spray with systemic pyrethroid.
Common Name
Citrus crusader bug. It is also known as the holy cross bug.
Scientific Name
Mictis profana. In Australia, Mictis caja and Mictis difficilis are also present. It is a coreid, and one of the leaf-footed bugs.
AUTHORS Grahame Jackson & Mani Mua
Information from Swaine G (1971) Agricultural Zoology in Fiji. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. London. Photo1 Ra3vyn [CC BY 3.0. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons. Photo 2 Patrick_K59 at https://flickr.com/photos/63175631@N02/23610154572.
Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project HORT/2016/185: Responding to emerging pest and disease threats to horticulture in the Pacific islands, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Pacific Community.
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