PESTS OF COTTON :: Minor Pests :: Dusky Cotton Bug

7. Dusky cotton bug: Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Lygaeidae: Hemiptera)

Distribution and status: Africa, Egypt, Indian, china and philipiness. Minor pest but regular in occurrence.

Host range: Cotton, bhendi, holly hock and other malvaceous weeds.

Damage symptoms: It sucks the sap from developing seeds in open bolls and stains the lint black.  Seeds discoloured and shrunken.

Bionomics: The adult is a small flat bug, dusky brown in colour.  It lays cigar shaped, white eggs in clusters of 2-10 within the half opened bolls, on the bolls, flower or buds.  The incubation period is 6-10 days.  The nymphs undergo five instars.  The nymphal duration is 30-40 days.