Molecular characterization of mirid bugs infesting cotton

Abstract

Mirid bug is an important emerging insect pest in the various crops and predominant in cotton. Both nymphsand adults pierce their stylet and suck the sap from immature bolls and watery saliva is secreted by the bug, when theypierce into the bolls which leads to cell necrosis and in-turn leads to dropping of cotton squares and ultimately reduce theyield. Conventional taxonomic studies were already well established but there is a lack of knowledge in the area of molecularcharacterization. The present investigation on the molecular characterization of mirid bugs was done during 2016-17 inDepartment of Biotechnology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. The collection of mirid bug species fromdifferent crops at various locations confirmed that, the existence of brown, green and red colour morphs of (Creontiadesbisrratense Distant) in Karnataka infesting on cotton and (Creontiades pallidus Rambur) on sunflower ecosystem in Latur,Maharashtra and which is a pest of cotton in Australia. Through available matching sequences of mitochondrial cytochromeoxidase DNA fragments resulted in two cluster phylogeny and all color morphs were matched each other.