Wednesday, 17 November 2004
D0488

Predatory Coleoptera on king sago (Cycadaceae) in south Florida

Ronald D. Cave, RDCave@mail.ifas.ufl.edu and Patrick S. Duetting, psduetting@ifas.ufl.edu. University of Florida, Indian River Research & Education Center, 2199 South Rock Road, Ft. Pierce, FL

The predatory Coleoptera fauna on king sago, Cycas revoluta Thunberg (Cycadaceae), in south Florida is summarized and illustrated. The king sago is a popular landscape plant, but individual plants may harbor very large populations of the long-tailed mealybug, Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni), the cycad aulacaspis scale, Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi, and miscellaneous soft scales (Coccidae). The majority of beetle species observed belong to the family Coccinellidae, with 13 species representing 10 genera. Species in the genera Exochomus, Chilocorus, Curinus and Diomus are the most frequently encountered. Crowns and leaves are often inhabited by the armored scale feeder Cybocephalus binotatus Grouvelle (Nitidulidae). Generalist Carabidae are infrequently detected.


Species 1: Coleoptera Coccinellidae Exochomus childreni
Species 2: Coleoptera Coccinellidae Chilocorus cacti
Species 3: Coleoptera Nitidulidae Cybocephalus binotatus
Keywords: cycad aulacaspis scale, biological control

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