Establishment and honeydew honey production of Marchalina hellenica (Coccoidea Margarodidae) on fir tree (Abies cephalonica)

Marchalina hellenica (Gennadius) (Coccoidea Margarodidae) is an important honeydew producing scale insect useful to apiculture and endemic in the pine (Pinus halepensis) forests of Greece. Up to 1995 this insect was known to be monophagous on certain species of the genus Pinus. From 1995 onwards several attempts were made to establish M. hellenica on fir trees, Abies cephalonica (London), on Mt. Helmos (Greece). Two different inoculation treatments, either with 2nd instar insects or with adult individuals, were used for the establishment of the insect on fir trees. These trials were successful and for the first time in 1999 was collected honey, the physicochemical characteristics of which represents a good quality honey. These results create the necessary preconditions for the increase in the honey production derived from the honeydew secretions of M. hellenica.