Nohara and Iwata (1988) and Blumberg and Swirski (1982). Tanaka and Inoue (1983)

were the first to really study the feeding behavior of C. nipponicus. Later, Drea and

Carlson (1988) and Alvarez and Van Driesche (1998a, 1998b) continued the biology of

C. nipponicus. There remains much to be studied about the life cycle, breeding habits,

oviposition behavior, or dietary requirements of C. nipponicus to determine whether it

has any significant effect as a biological control agent of the cycad aulacaspis scale.

Without some form of baseline data on the beetle, no real effectiveness research can be

done.

 Rhyzobius lophanthae

 Rhyzobius (= Lindorus) lophanthae (Blaisdell) is a small, pubescent coccinellid

belonging to the tribe Coccidulini. The adult is 2.4-2.5 mm in length and between 1.7

and 1.8 mm in width, and has black or brown elytra and an orange-brown thorax and

head region. The body form is elongate or oval with a dense mat of hairs covering the

dorsal surface. The head is partly concealed beneath the pronotum, with 11-segmented

antennae, the last 3 segments of which are broader then the rest to form a club. The tarsal

claws are not toothed. This beetle is often referred to as the singular black lady beetle or

the scale destroyer.

 Rhyzobius lophanthae is a coccoidophagous predator native to Australia. It is

considered by many to be one of the most economically important natural enemies of

armored scale insects (Yus 1973, Rosen 1990, Stathas 2001). This beetle has been

released in many areas of the world to control a plethora of armored scale species (Honda

and Luck 1995). There are many examples of successful control of scale insects using R.

lophanthae, especially in the Mediterranean region (Greathead 1973). There have been

some very high profile failures as well, such as the inability ofR. lophanthae to control