The adult mealybug destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) is a small black lady beetle with a tan front end and a voracious appetite for mealybugs and some soft scales and aphids. Originally introduced into the United States in 1891 from Australia by one of the early biological control pioneers, Albert Koebele, this beneficial insect is credited with the complete control of the citrus mealybug. Both adult and larval stages are predatory.
Mealybug destroyers lay eggs among the cottony egg sack of mealybugs. Eggs hatch into larva in roughly 5 days. These larva, which are similar in appearance to the pest, feed on mealybug eggs, young crawlers, and the honeydew produced by pests. It takes approximately three weeks for these young predators to go through three larval stages and a pupal stage before they become adults. Four days after emerging, adult females begin to lay eggs and can lay as many as 400 eggs over their two month life span. |
