Icerya samaraia

<br>The coccinellid predator Rodolia pumila is believed to be specific to Icerya species and closely related scale insects, and has been used successfully for the biological control of the related species Icerya aegyptiaca on some islands of Micronesia (Schreiner, 1989;Waterhouse, 1993).<br>Of three species of Rodolia (R. pumila, R. cardinalis and R. breviuscula) introduced to the oceanic Pacific for the control of I. aegyptiaca, I. purchasi and I. seychellarum, only R. pumila became widely established on the high islands of Micronesia by the 1950s. R. pumila appears to have been less successful on low coral atolls, possibly after reducing the abundance of its hosts to such low levels that the coccinellid was unsustainable (Beardsley, 1955;Schreiner, 1989;Waterhouse, 1993). This leads to a boom and bust cycle, with predatory beetles disappearing for long enough in some locations for damaging populations of I. aegyptiaca to develop for several years at a time (Waterhouse, 1993). R. pumila is also reported to keep populations of I. samaraia under control in Palau (Beardsley, 1966).<br>Another coccinellid, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, was introduced for the control of Icerya spp. in Palau and Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands) and became established by 1940 (Schreiner, 1989;Waterhouse, 1993). It has been recorded attacking I. samaraia in Palau (Beardsley, 1955).