An endemic pest of Taurus fir, Abies cilicica (Antoine et Kotschy) Carriere; Pityokteines marketae Knizek, (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae)

Abstract

Taurus fir, Abies cilicica (Antoine et Kotschy) Carriere is endemic to Turkey and it's the largest native forest in the world has been naturally distributed in southern Turkey. Pityokteines marketae Knizek, 1998 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) is a new and the most important pests of A. cilicica. It was first recorded from southern Turkey in 1998. This research was carried out in order to determine distribution and biology of P. marketae in Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey between 2001-2010. At the end of the study, P. marketae were common and caused economically significant damage in Taurus fir forests of the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The pest is recorded first time from regions of Adana, Kahramanmaras, Mersin (Bozyazi, Erdemli, Gulnar, Mezitli, Silifke and Toroslar district) and Nigde. The host species are Abies cilicica ssp. cilicica and A. cilicica ssp. isaurica. The species had 2 generations per year. The first mating season occurred from the mid-April to end of May and the second from end of July to beginnig of August. A short identification key for Pityokteines species in the Palaearctic zoogeographic region is also provided.