اولین گزارش سن شکارگر Zicrona caerulea Linnaeus به‌عنوان شکارگر آفت کک لور Altica viridula Weise از ایران

The Hyrcanian forests, which are 25 to 50 million years old, are considered one of the most valuable forests in the world, and its preservation and protection is very important. These forests suffer a lot of damage from pests every year. The purpose of this research is to investigate the biology of the laurel flea beetle as an important pest and preserve the valuable oriental hornbeam tree at the altitude of the Hyrcanian habitat. Due to the lack of use of chemical poisons to fight forest pests and the need to fight with integrated methods to manage and fight this pest, it was necessary to conduct this research. One of the important leaf-eating pests of Carpinus orientalis Mill. in Iran is the A. viridula, which has become an important pest in Mazandaran province, especially in forests, and has become an epidemic in some areas. One of the important predators identified to control this pest is Z. caerulea, which belongs to the Pentatomidae family. The body of the adult insect is uniformly metallic blue-green. This predator hibernates in the form of an adult, and at the same time as the mature insects of the flea beetle leave and lay eggs in nature, this predator leaves and lays eggs at the same time. The nymphs start their hunting activities at the same time as the larvae of the flea beetle and feed on the hemolymph of the larvae until the first week of July, and from the beginning of July onwards, new adults of this one-generation species can be observed in the region. By collecting overwintering adults and eggs laid on the leaves of the tree, in the laboratory (normal room conditions: 25±5 °C, 72.5% R.H), rearing was done in sterile containers by feeding flea beetle larvae. The life stages and biology of this predator were fully investigated. The average pre-mating stage is 4 days, the average egg-laying stage is 4 days, the average hatching of eggs is 7 days, the average lifespan of first, second, third, four, and five instar nymphs, respectively, is 5, 4, 5, 7, and 6 days. The last instar became an adult after 7 days. The average length of a complete generation of this predator in the laboratory was 42 days, and the average lifespan of an adult in the laboratory was 50 days. Also, the feeding rate of the larvae of this pest was investigated by this predator. The importance of this issue is due to the first report of this predator on this pest from Iran, its specificity for the pest and the gluttony of this predator, And the necessity of protection, support, propagation and release is felt seriously.