New record of a native predator, Nephus sp on Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green)

The pink mealy bug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green) (Hemiptera : Pseudococ icdae) is one of the major pest of mulberry plant, Morus alba L. causing "T ukra" (Figures. 1 & 2) with the characteristic symptoms like crinkling, cur ling and dark green leaves at the apices, bushy top due arrest of linear gr owth with thickening and twisting of affected shoots leading to considerabl e loss of leaf yield both quantitatively and qualitatively(2,5,6,8,9,11,12) . Feeding silkworm with Tukra affected leaf causes significant decline in e conomic characters of silkworm rearing like larval weight, cocoon weight, s hell weight, silk ratio and effective rate of rearing(10).