Neuenschwander, P., & Hammond, W.N.O. 1988 Natural enemy activity following the introduction of Epidinocarsis lopezi (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) against the cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae), in southwestern Nigeria.. Environmental Entomology 17(5): 894-902.

Notes: The effectiveness of the exotic South American hymenopterous parasitoid Epidinocarsis lopezi in controlling the cassava mealybug (CM), Phenacoccus manihoti in southwestern Nigeria, was assessed using emergence samples. Survey results suggest that CM infestation levels as measured by frequency of plants showing CM damage sysmptoms declines as a result of the parasitoid's activity from 88% at the end of the first dry season (March 1983) to 23% in the same period the following year. E. lopezi numbers per field also declined during the same period, but parasitoid densities per infested cassava tip in both years remained the same. It is concluded that E. lopezi is responsible for declines in CM densities and damge symptoms, for reduction of coccinellid abundance via competition for a common food source, and that hyperparasitism does not prevent E. lopezi from being an efficient parasitoid.