PESTS OF RICE :: Major Pests :: Rice Black Bug

7. Rice black bug: Scotinophora lurida and S. coarctata (Podopidae: Hemiptera)

Distribution and Status: India Host range: Rice, millets Damage symptoms: Both nymphs and adults suck plant sap from the culm during tillering to flowering at the base of the plant. It also sucks the sap from leaf sheath, leaf and panicle.  The affected plants turn reddish brown or yellow.  During tillering stage, it causes drying up of central shoot (dead heart), stunted growth and reduced tillers.  During reproductive stage, it affects the panicle development and causes chaffy grains (white ears).  In severe cases, plants wilt, dry and turn bug burned, similar to hopper burn damage of brown plant hopper.   ETL: 10% damage at tillering stage or 5 bugs / hill
	Bug Burn (PhilRice)
	Bionomics of Rice Black Bug

Bionomics: Adults are brownish black with a prominent scutellum and pronotum having a spine on either side.  1 mm long greenish eggs are laid in masses on the stem and leaves that turn pinkish during hatching.  Brown nymphs with yellowish green abdomen and 2-3 black scent glands.

Management
1. Keep the field free from weeds and grasses.
2. Drain the excess water from the field.
3. Set up light traps to attract and kill large number of bugs.
4. Conserve the predators viz., spiders, coccinellids and wasps to check the pest.
5. Ducks can be allowed in the field to pick up the bugs