بعض الصفات المورفولوجية و الأطوار الحياتية لحفار الأشجار ذي الرأس المسطح sphenoptera servistana obenberger, 1929 في بيئة بساتين الأشجار ذات النواة الحجرية في وسط العراق

Flat-headed tree borer is one of the important pests that threatens stone fruit trees in many countries of the world including Iraq. detailed studies of some of the morphological and life stages of the sphenoptera servistana (coleoptera: buprestidae) were carried out during 2019-2020 in pear, peach, plum and apricot orchards around Baghdad. the characteristics of the life stages of the borer egg, larva, pupa, adult and the development period, in addition to the population dynamics of the emerged adults were investigated on infested trees under field conditions. the results obtained revealed that the borer eggs have an oval shape, white color, 0.77 mm wide and 1.60 mm long. the incubation period was 12-14 days. the larva has a head fused with thorax, the pronotal segment is enlarged, has a creamy color, 3.3 mm wide and 21.3 mm long, 119 mg weight and development duration is from 210-270 days. the pupa was white creamy in color, 5.7 mm wide,13.8 mm long, 85 mg in weight and the development period lasted 14-18 days. the adult male was elongated with a metallic shiny color, 4.08 mm wide, 11.77mm long, and 65 mg in weight, whereas the adult female was 4.49 mm wide, 13.49 mm long, and weighed 81 mg. the adults started to emerge from the tunnels on the trees at the end of the second week of may 2020 and reached to the maximum peak at the middle of the third week of may, then started to decrease gradually until it reached to zero emergence at the end of the same month. larvae parasitoid wasps (atanycolus ivanowi) were collected and the entomopathogenic fungus beauveria bassiana were isolated from larva and pupa and its tunnels. this field study identified very important biological control components that could be incorporated into integrated control program for this borer.