Published Paper Details:

The present study is based on the infestation of gall insect (Pauropsylla tuberculata) on Alstonia tree which is species specific. Gall insect belongs to the order Hemiptera and is commonly known as the jumping lice. It is recorded from all over India, Malaya, Myanmar, Siam, Philippines etc. The gall insect form galls in the Alstonia scholaris tree as it is the host plant for it. The life cycle of gall insect and the infected Alstonia tree from CSIR-NEERI office premises were studied. It was observed that, this insect lacks the pupal stage and directly turns to became adult. It has 5nymphalstages namely stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4 and stage 5. As soon as it hatched, it forms the galls by sucking the plant sap which is a source of food and nutrition for it. In the gall, it completes its whole life cycle and emerges out as the adult and habitat nearby the same tree, where it again lays eggs on the leaves of this tree. To minimize the infestation on the trees removal of the infected leaves and burying or dumping was done as the preliminary measure. As the infestation is causing a huge loss to the plant it is categorized as pest.