Panis, A., & Kreiter, P. 2008 Note sur Nipaecoccus delassusi (Balachowsky, 1925) et ses ennemis naturels en France (Hemiptera, Pseudococcidae). [Note on Nipaecoccus delassusi (Balachowsky, 1925) and its natural enemies in France (Hemiptera, Pseudococcidae)].. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 113(3): 373-380

Notes: Nipaecoccus delassusi (Balachowsky) is found in Corsica and in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var departements, from the Mediterranean Sea to 10-20 km inland, in the scrub on Erica arborea. Ecology and biology of this mealybug and of its natural enemies are studied for the first time. The scale-insect needs of a sunny exposure in spring and early summer, preferring the young and long shoots of E. arborea. It is bisexual, oviparous and monovoltine. Egg-laying is in May-June. It has three larval instars, and the 2nd instar larvae leave the aerial parts of the tree heath in July, then coming back in April of the next year. The Neuropterans Sympherobius pygmaeus Navas (Hemerobiidae), Coniopteryx lentiae Aspöck & Aspöck (Coniopterygidae) and the Dipteran Dicrodiplosis sp. (Cecidomyiidae) are predaceous on eggs, larvae or females. Anagyrus pseudococci (Girault) and Leptomastidea bifasciata (Mayr) (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae) parasitise the mealybug. The protection of the N. delassusi colonies by the ant Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille) could explain the low number of individuals of each natural-enemies species.