similar morphologically to that ofA. yasumatsui (Takagi 1977), but with such different

host plants these two scales are not often confused.

 Chemical Control of CAS

 There has been some success controlling the cycad aulacaspis scale with various

pesticides. Oils, either an ultra-fine horticultural oil or a product containing fish oil, seem

to be the most effective chemical control method (Hodges et al. 2003). This is not really

surprising given that oils have long been used to control armored scale insects. The oil

not only covers the insects and suffocates them but also covers the surface of the plant

making it difficult for crawlers to settle onto the plant (Howard and Weissling 1999).

The proper application of the oils is difficult due to the scale's tendency to heavily infest

the abaxial surface of the leaves, which is difficult to spray (Howard and Weissling

1999). In the case of C. revoluta, the architecture of the plant itself, with the margins of

the leaflets curling down and inward and forming a trough on the abaxial surface of the

leaflet, makes foliar oil treatments difficult (Hodges et al. 2003). Frequent (every two

weeks) or "as needed" use of oils seems to be the most effective technique for controlling

this scale, and by mixing treatments of oil with treatments of contact insecticides such as

malathion or carbaryl, even greater scale mortality can be achieved (Hodges et al. 2003).

Horticultural oils also seem to at least help control CAS on the root systems of potted

cycads. Hodges et al. (2003) found that drenching the roots of an infested cycad in 2%

horticultural oil resulted in 100% mortality of mature females on the roots. However, a

root drench would be very difficult to accomplish properly on field-grown cycads. The

use of systemics such as methidathion and dimethoate has yielded mixed results, being

very effective in some cases and completely ineffective at controlling the scale in other

cases (Hodges et al. 2003). Imidacloprid as a soil drench can be very effective but