Cryptolaemus monrouzeiri

Cryptolaemus montrouzieri
BY
SHABANA P M(14-41-338)
ELPT 4201

INTRODUCTION
 C. montrouzieri (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera) is native to
Australia. It was imported from Australia in 1898 in an
attempt to control the coffee green scale, Coccus viridis
Green in India.
 Introduction of C. montrouzieri into South India has
been documented by Mayne (1953)
 It is an extremely effective predator of a range of
mealybug species and young soft scales, so it has
been successfully used for the control of
 These mealy bugs are used as natural hosts for the
mass production of the predatory beetle.
Grape vine mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus
Citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri Risso
Guava mealybug, Ferrisia virgata
Papaya Mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus

 Mealybugs throughout the world cause a variety
of economic problems, called ‘hard to kill pests of
fruit trees’.Perhapes the most important factor is
that Eggs and late instar nymphs of the
mealybugs protected by waxy filamentous
secretions of ovisac are almost impossible to
reach with insecticides.
 In recent years, the infestation of this mealybug
on grapes has become very severe, making the
fruits unfit for consumption and raisin making

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
 Kingdom:Animalia
 Phylum:Arthropoda
 Class:Insecta
 Order:Coleoptera
 Family:Coccinellidae
 Genus:Cryptolaemus
 Species:C. montrouzieri
 Binomial name:Cryptolaemus montrouzieri

Different developmental stages of
Cryptolaemus
montrouzieri Mulsant
1.Egg 2.First instar 3.Second instar 4.Third
instar
6.Pu
pa
7.Adult

BIOLOGY
 Females lay their eggs among the egg sack
of mealybugs. Larvae feed on mealybug eggs,
young crawlers and their honeydew.
 Eggs hatch into larvae in about 5 days at 80 F
.The newly hatched grub is sluggish but becomes
active after 3 to 4 hours. The tiny grub is pale
greyish with white lines across the body along
intra segmental regions
 . These larvae, whose waxy covering makes them
superficially resembles mealy bugs, feed on
mealy bug eggs and young crawlers.

 The tiny grub is smooth and pale grayish and
white wax strands develop on the body after 24 h
of hatching.
 Adults of this species have the typical ladybird
shape but, unlike many of the often brightly
colored Coccinellidae, the elytra of these small
ladybirds are predominantly dark brown and have
no spots.
 Cool temperatures will slow development and
reproduction but when the temperature is below
50F these beetles remain alive but do not
produce many offspring.

 When the grub is disturbed, it exudes a yellow
fluid from the dorsal surface of the body for
defensive purpose.
 . The adult spends about one day in the pupal
case before it emerges. It is covered with a white
powder like substance for a day.
 Male to female ratio is 1 : 1.

 The Cryptolaemus males can be distinguished
from the female by their brown coloured first pair
of legs.
Male Female

LIFE CYCLE
•It takes another 24 days
for these beetles to go
through four larval stages
and a pupal stage before
they become adults.
• C. montrouzieri pupates
in sheltered places on
stems or on greenhouse
structures.
Adults emerge after 7-10
days after pupation.
• Four days after
emerging, adult females
begin to lay eggs, and the
lifetime total may be as
many as 400 eggs.
•Adults may live up to 2

FEEDING POTENTIAL OF Cryptolaemus
montrouzieri
 Murthy and Narayana (1986b) reported that both
adults and grubs of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri feed
extensively on all stages of the mealybugs, eggs and
crawlers of scale insects. But the larvae are more
voracious feeders
 Joshi et al. (2003) reported that a coccinellid grub
consumes a total of 900-1500 eggs or 300 nymphs or
30 adults of M. hirsutus during its development. The
number of mealybugs consumed by first, second,
third and fourth instar grubs of C. montrouzieri
averaged 34, 53, 183 and 610, respectively.
 Predatory ability and efficiency of C. montrouzieri
varies according to its developmental stage and the
predatory activity increased with development.

 It was also observed that predators preferred to
prey upon second instar nymphs of the
mealybugs, The rate of predation was dependent
on developmental period, whereas, per day
consumption of grubs of all the stages decreased
with increase in size of the mealybug (Babasaheb
et al.,2010).
Larva of cryptolaemus
feeding on mealy bugs.

Ventral view of a fully grown Cryptolaemus larva(4th instar)
feeding mealy bug

HOST SUITABILITY FOR
MULTIPLICATION OF MEALYBUGS
 Shui-chen et al. (1985) used Planococcus citri
reared on pumpkins as food for mass rearing and
field release of Cryptolaemus beetle.
 Goutham and Kataria (1986) found that Ferrisia
virgata can be easily mass produced on sprouted
potatoes at 27 ± 1.50C and 50 ± 5 percent
relative humidity, as it completes its life cycle in
30-35 days.
 Joshi et al. (2003) reported that Cucurbita
moschata (Pumpkin) is the best host for
mealybugs.

HOST PREFERENCE OF
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri
 Planococcus citri is a better host for culturing
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri since it has shorter
life cycle and higher fecundity.

OUTPUT IN TERMS OF
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri YIELD
 Kishore et al. (1993) reported that, starting from
ten predatory beetles, a maximum of 250 adults
of C. montrouzieri were obtained when reared on
twenty day old colony of M.hirsutus, which had
been raised by releasing 50 ovipositing (3 days
old) females on sweet pumpkin having a surface
area of 1300 sq.cm
 It was also evident from the data that any
variation in the age of the colony of mealy bugs
does not increase the number of predatory
beetles significantly.

MASS PRODUCTION
1.1. Colony establishment
The colonies of the mealy bugs are established
from field collection initially. Guava plantations,
vineyards, pappaya, citrus and pomegranate
gardens are good reservoirs of the mealy bug
populations.
 From them a primary colony under quarantine is
established separately in the lab utilizing the
quarantine facility.
 During this period the colony is purified to obtain
mealy bug population free of attacks by
parasitoids and scavenging ants.

1.2. Culture maintenance
The mealy bugs are cultured on pumpkin (red) in
the laboratory. It is very difficult to maintain the
colony on the natural host plants. The selection of
pumpkin is critical for successful development of
mealy bugs.
 Fleshy pumpkins with intact peduncle and deep
ridges and furrows of weight 2.5 kg devoid of
wounds and mouldy patches are used for
multiplication of the mealy bugs.
 The pumpkins are soaked in carbendazim 0.5%
for 1 min. and shade dried. The cut ends and
wounds are plugged with molten wax.
 Along the furrows small folded piece of papers

 The pumpkins are placed in large sized cages over
stainless steel stands. The cages are set up in ant
proof conditions as the mealy bugs secrete honey
dews which attract ants invariably.
 Ovisacs of healthy adults of mealy bugs are collected
and placed on fresh pumpkin in the laboratory
individually. From them, the eggs are allowed to hatch
and multiply. The crawlers move along the small
pleated paper pieces and settle.
 In a month time, the mealy bugs begin to smother the
entire surface of the pumpkin. From this stock,
subsequent colonies are established.

 When the colony is in active growth period with
breeding females, the ovisacs are collected with
the help of camel hair brush and transferred to
fresh pumpkins prepared as above.
 During the mass production care is taken to avoid
fungal invasion. The cages, steel ware used are
sterilized using common bleach. Used pumpkin
fruits with symptoms of mould invasion are
disposed of immediately.
 After 25 days of releasing the mealybugs, 10
mated adult females of Cryptolaemus are
released into the cage.
 For facilitating pupation of grubs, paper pieces
were kept on the bottom of the cage. After 1.5 to
2 months, the emerging beetles were collected in
the glass vials daily up to 5-10 days.

Cryptolaemus montrouzieri on
Maconellicoccus
hirsutus cultured on pumpkin
a. Larval culture b. Adult culture

A preliminary study on the occurrence of Pseudococcus
comstocki (Hom.: Pseudococcidae) on Clivia miniata and its
control with inundative release of Cryptolaemus
montrouzieri (Col.: Coccinellidae).
 In studies in Beijing in 1989, 2nd- to 3rd-instar larvae
of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri were released on 8
occasions from 15 August to 24 October onto potted plants
of the ornamental bulb Clivia miniata to
control Pseudococcus comstocki, which occurs all year
round with the greatest infestation in July-September in
this area.
A total of 63 predators was released per plant. Sampling on
14 November showed that the numbers of P.
comstocki per leaf and the numbers of egg masses and
clusters of larvae per plant were reduced by 87.9, 75 and
91.2%, resp., compared with untreated control plants.
Applying DDVP [dichlorvos] after the pest populations were
reduced by the predator, reduced the numbers of egg
masses and clusters of larvae by 72.7 and 86.1%, resp.,
compared with those of plants treated with dichlorvos

Influence of some pesticides on the egg and larval stages of the
mealybug predator, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant
(Coccinellidae: Coleoptera).
 A laboratory experiment was carried out in India to
determine the effects of the insecticides dichlorvos at
0.1% and deltamethrin at 0.00375%, the acaricide
dicofol at 0.054% and the fungicides tridemorph and
triadimefon at 0.05% and sulfur at 0.2% on eggs and
larvae of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, a predator
of Maconellicoccus hirsutus on grapes in Andhra
Pradesh, India.
 Toxicity was assessed by the dry film method.
 Tridemorph was the only compound that had an
ovicidal effect up to 48 h after treatment, but it did not
affect hatching after exposure for 48-72 h.

• Tridemorph was most toxic, with 13.3% survival 0-
24 h after exposure and 3.3% after 48-72 h.
• When larvae were exposed to treated films,
deltamethrin was the most toxic, only 3% survival
being recorded 0-24 h after exposure, while sulfur,
dichlorvos and tridemorph were safe, with 95-100%
survival.

Cryptolaemus monrouzeiri

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