Characterization of mealy substance secreted by the tuber crops pest mealy bug, Rhizoecus amoprhophalli

Rhizoecus amorphophalli is a polyphagous and very serious sucking insect pest on the root and tuber of plants. White powdery mealy substance associated with R. amorphophalli, gives protection to the insect. Mealy substance was isolated using a stereo zoom binocular microscope. Purity of the mealy substance was analysed using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Thin-layer chromatography. The structure of mealy substance was determined based on extensive spectroscopic analyses (FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR). Based on the NMR data, the mealy substance was identified as a long-chained aliphatic hydrocarbon (ester) containing 30 carbon atoms.