NATURAL ENEMIES AND OTHER SPECIES ASSOCIATED WITH SACCHARICOCCUS SACCHARI (COCKERELL) (HEMIPTERA: PSEUDOCOCCIDAE) IN THE BUNDABERG AREA, SOUTHEAST QUEENSLAND

Abstract

The pathogenic fungus Aspergillus parasiticus Speare, a “habitat destroyer”Cacoxenus perspicax (Knab), and a parasitoid Anagyrus saccharicola Timberlake are the major natural enemies of the sugarcane mealybug Saccharicoccus sacchari (Cockerell) in the Bundaberg area. Their abundance varied over a 17‐month period and may have been linked to January‐March rainfall. The number of An. saccharicola emerging from a mummy depended on the host size. Five insect predators, Chrysopa innota Walker, Elaunon bipartitus (Kirby), Nala lividipes (Dufour), Halmus ovalis (Blackburn) and Isauria aphidovora (Meyrick) and 3 additional fungal pathogens, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff), Penicillium sp. and Cordyceps sp. are recorded. A parasitoid of C. perspicax, Chartocerus (Xana) sp. is also recorded. The ants, Pheidole megacephala (F.), Paratrechina obscura Mayr and Iridomyrmex sp. are involved in mutualistic behaviour with S. sacchari. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved