The Effect of the Miticide Neotran Upon the Laboratory Production of Aspidiotus lataniae Signoret as a Coccinellid Food

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The large scale production of Coccinellids at the Fontana Laboratory, Commonwealth Bureau of Biological Control, Fontana, California, for shipment to Bermuda where they are used against the Diaspine Cedar Scale, Carulaspis visci Schrank has created a variety of problems. Potato tubers are being used to rear the Diaspine scales Aonidiella aurantii Mask., Aspidiotus lataniae Signoret, and Aspidiotus hederae Vallot for host material for the Coccinellids Zagloba ornata Casey, Cephaloscymnus occidentalis Horn, Microweisea suturalis Schwartz, Lotis nigerrima Casey, Lotis neglecta Muls., Pharoscymnus exiguus Weise, Telsimia sp., and the Nitidulid Cybocephalus sp. One of the outstanding difficulties was the damage caused by several species of predaceous mites as contaminants in our production program. The elimination of these mites led to the rather novel use of miticides as a means of sanitation control. The results although effective were open to experimental error. This preliminary report deals primarily with the effectiveness of Neotran on these mites, Hemisarcoptes malus Schimer, Iphidulus sp., Tyroglyphus americanus Banks, the associated effect upon the praducrion of the Diaspine scale Aspidiotus lataniae, and the subsequent effect on the prodection of the Coccinellids.