Cryptolaemus monrouzeiri

biological control of mealy bugs by australian lady bird beetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri.
The adult as well as the larval cryptolaemus feed on all stages of mealy bugs.

1. Cryptolaemus montrouzieri BY SHABANA P M(14-41-338) ELPT 4201

2. INTRODUCTION  C. montrouzieri (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera ) is native to Australia . It was imported from Australia in 1898 in an attempt to control the coffee green scale, Coccus viridis Green in India . Introduction of C . montrouzieri into South India has been documented by Mayne (1953) It is an extremely effective predator of a range of mealybug species and young soft scales, so it has been successfully used for the control of These mealy bugs are used as natural hosts for the mass production of the predatory beetle. Grape vine mealybug , Maconellicoccus hirsutus C itrus mealybug , Planococcus citri Risso G uava mealybug , Ferrisia virgata Papaya Mealybug , Paracoccus marginatus

3. Mealybugs throughout the world cause a variety of economic problems, called ‘hard to kill pests of fruit trees’.Perhapes the most important factor is that Eggs and late instar nymphs of the mealybugs protected by waxy filamentous secretions of ovisac are almost impossible to reach with insecticides . In recent years, the infestation of this mealybug on grapes has become very severe, making the fruits unfit for consumption and raisin making

4. SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION Kingdom:Animalia Phylum:Arthropoda Class:Insecta Order:Coleoptera Family:Coccinellidae Genus: Cryptolaemus Species: C .  montrouzieri Binomial name: Cryptolaemus montrouzieri

5. Different developmental stages of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant 1.Egg 2.First instar 3.Second instar 4.Third instar 6.Pupa 7.Adult

6. BIOLOGY Females lay their eggs among the egg sack of  mealybugs . Larvae feed on mealybug eggs, young crawlers and their honeydew. Eggs hatch into larvae in about 5 days at 80 F .The newly hatched grub is sluggish but becomes active after 3 to 4 hours.  The tiny grub is pale greyish with white lines across the body along intra segmental regions . These larvae, whose waxy covering makes them superficially resembles mealy bugs, feed on mealy bug eggs and young crawlers .

7. The tiny grub is smooth and pale grayish and white wax strands develop on the body after 24 h of hatching. Adults of this species have the typical ladybird shape but, unlike many of the often brightly colored Coccinellidae, the elytra of these small ladybirds are predominantly dark brown and have no spots . Cool temperatures will slow development and reproduction but when the temperature is below 50F these beetles remain alive but do not produce many offspring.

8. When the grub is disturbed, it exudes a yellow fluid from the dorsal surface of the body for defensive purpose. . The adult spends about one day in the pupal case before it emerges.  It is covered with a white powder like substance for a day . Male to female ratio is 1 : 1.

9. The Cryptolaemus males can be distinguished from the female by their brown coloured first pair of legs. Male Female

10. LIFE CYCLE It takes another 24 days for these beetles to go through four larval stages and a pupal stage before they become adults . C. montrouzieri  pupates in sheltered places on stems or on greenhouse structures. Adults emerge after 7-10 days after pupation. Four days after emerging, adult females begin to lay eggs, and the lifetime total may be as many as 400 eggs. Adults may live up to 2 months..

11. FEEDING POTENTIAL OF Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Murthy and Narayana (1986b) reported that both adults and grubs of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri feed extensively on all stages of the mealybugs , eggs and crawlers of scale insects. But the larvae are more voracious feeders Joshi et al. (2003 ) reported that a coccinellid grub consumes a total of 900-1500 eggs or 300 nymphs or 30 adults of M. hirsutus during its development . The number of mealybugs consumed by first, second, third and fourth instar grubs of C. montrouzieri averaged 34, 53, 183 and 610, respectively. Predatory ability and efficiency of C. montrouzieri varies according to its developmental stage and the predatory activity increased with development.

12. It was also observed that p redators preferred to prey upon second instar nymphs of the mealybugs , The rate of predation was dependent on developmental period, whereas, per day consumption of grubs of all the stages decreased with increase in size of the mealybug ( Babasaheb et al., 2010). Larva of cryptolaemus feeding on mealy bugs.

13. Ventral view of a fully grown Cryptolaemus larva(4 th instar ) feeding mealy bug

14. HOST SUITABILITY FOR MULTIPLICATION OF MEALYBUGS Shui-chen et al. (1985) used Planococcus citri reared on pumpkins as food for mass rearing and field release of Cryptolaemus beetle. Goutham and Kataria (1986) found that Ferrisia virgata can be easily mass produced on sprouted potatoes at 27 ± 1.50C and 50 ± 5 percent relative humidity, as it completes its life cycle in 30-35 days. Joshi et al. (2003) reported that Cucurbita moschata (Pumpkin) is the best host for mealybugs .

15. HOST PREFERENCE OF Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Planococcus citri is a better host for culturing Cryptolaemus montrouzieri since it has shorter life cycle and higher fecundity.

16. OUTPUT IN TERMS OF Cryptolaemus montrouzieri YIELD Kishore et al. (1993) reported that, starting from ten predatory beetles, a maximum of 250 adults of C. montrouzieri were obtained when reared on twenty day old colony of M.hirsutus , which had been raised by releasing 50 ovipositing (3 days old) females on sweet pumpkin having a surface area of 1300 sq.cm It was also evident from the data that any variation in the age of the colony of mealy bugs does not increase the number of predatory beetles significantly.

17. MASS PRODUCTION

18. MASS PRODUCTION 1.1 . Colony establishment The colonies of the mealy bugs are established from field collection initially. Guava plantations, vineyards, pappaya , citrus and pomegranate gardens are good reservoirs of the mealy bug populations . From them a primary colony under quarantine is established separately in the lab utilizing the quarantine facility. During this period the colony is purified to obtain mealy bug population free of attacks by parasitoids and scavenging ants.

19. 1.2. Culture maintenance       The mealy bugs are cultured on pumpkin (red) in the laboratory.  It is very difficult to maintain the colony on the natural host plants. The selection of pumpkin is critical for successful development of mealy bugs. Fleshy pumpkins with intact peduncle and deep ridges and furrows of weight 2.5 kg devoid of wounds and mouldy patches are used for multiplication of the mealy bugs. The pumpkins are soaked in carbendazim 0.5% for 1 min. and shade dried.  The cut ends and wounds are plugged with molten wax.  Along the furrows small folded piece of papers are provided to facilitate settling of the crawlers

20. The pumpkins are placed in large sized cages over stainless steel stands. The cages are set up in ant proof conditions as the mealy bugs secrete honey dews which attract ants invariably. Ovisacs of healthy adults of mealy bugs are collected and placed on fresh pumpkin in the laboratory individually. From them, the eggs are allowed to hatch and multiply. The crawlers move along the small pleated paper pieces and settle. In a month time, the mealy bugs begin to smother the entire surface of the pumpkin. From this stock, subsequent colonies are established.

21. When the colony is in active growth period with breeding females, the ovisacs are collected with the help of camel hair brush and transferred to fresh pumpkins prepared as above. During the mass production care is taken to avoid fungal invasion. The cages, steel ware used are sterilized using common bleach. Used pumpkin fruits with symptoms of mould invasion are disposed of immediately. After 25 days of releasing the mealybugs , 10 mated adult females of Cryptolaemus are released into the cage. For facilitating pupation of grubs, paper pieces were kept on the bottom of the cage. After 1.5 to 2 months, the emerging beetles were collected in the glass vials daily up to 5-10 days.

22. Cryptolaemus montrouzieri on Maconellicoccus hirsutus cultured on pumpkin a. Larval culture b. Adult culture

23. STUDIES

24. A preliminary study on the occurrence of  Pseudococcus comstocki   ( Hom .: Pseudococcidae ) on  Clivia miniata   and its control with inundative release of  Cryptolaemus montrouzieri   (Col.: Coccinellidae). In studies in Beijing in 1989, 2nd- to 3rd-instar larvae of  Cryptolaemus montrouzieri   were released on 8 occasions from 15 August to 24 October onto potted plants of the ornamental bulb  Clivia miniata   to control  Pseudococcus comstocki ,  which occurs all year round with the greatest infestation in July-September in this area. A total of 63 predators was released per plant. Sampling on 14 November showed that the numbers of  P. comstocki   per leaf and the numbers of egg masses and clusters of larvae per plant were reduced by 87.9, 75 and 91.2%, resp., compared with untreated control plants. Applying DDVP [ dichlorvos ] after the pest populations were reduced by the predator, reduced the numbers of egg masses and clusters of larvae by 72.7 and 86.1%, resp., compared with those of plants treated with dichlorvos alone

25. Influence of some pesticides on the egg and larval stages of the mealybug predator,  Cryptolaemus montrouzieri   Mulsant (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera ). A laboratory experiment was carried out in India to determine the effects of the insecticides dichlorvos at 0.1% and deltamethrin at 0.00375%, the acaricide dicofol at 0.054% and the fungicides tridemorph and triadimefon at 0.05% and sulfur at 0.2% on eggs and larvae of  Cryptolaemus montrouzieri ,  a predator of  Maconellicoccus hirsutus   on grapes in Andhra Pradesh, India. Toxicity was assessed by the dry film method. Tridemorph was the only compound that had an ovicidal effect up to 48 h after treatment, but it did not affect hatching after exposure for 48-72 h.

26. Tridemorph was most toxic, with 13.3% survival 0-24 h after exposure and 3.3% after 48-72 h. When larvae were exposed to treated films, deltamethrin was the most toxic, only 3% survival being recorded 0-24 h after exposure, while sulfur, dichlorvos and tridemorph were safe, with 95-100% survival .

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