Bases para establecer una alerta temprana de Monalonion velezangeli (Hemiptera: Miridae) en café en el Huila

In the department of Huila, since 1998, the coffee chamusquina bug Monalonion velezangeli has caused damage on coffee crops. With the aim of anticipating a phytosanitary surveillance that allows the control of this insect in a timing manner, the basis were stablish to propose an early warning. The procedure associating the climate variables to shoots affected by the insect has three steps. 1) Identifying the altitude in which the pest occurs evaluating coffee plots along two altitudinal transects, 2) comparing the climate variables associated with the presence of chamusquina bug within Huila coffee plots with and without infestation; and 3) adjusting the criteria to determine the climate variable associated to the presence of the pest. According to the results of this research, the chamusquina bug is a pest that attacks coffee trees located in altitudes above 1,550 m.a.s.l., when a drastic decrease in night-time relative humidity occurs up to an average of 75% in nighttime relative humidity, and subsequently relative humidity increases progressively. Therefore, the decreasing in relative humidity at night would be the early warning event from which time monitoring and control actions of the insect should be taken in the vulnerable altitudes and municipalities of Huila.