Stathas, G.J. 2001 Ecological data on predators of Parlatoria pergandii on sour orange trees in southern Greece.. Phytoparasitica 29(3): 207-214.

Notes: The present study was carried out in southern Greece during 1993-1995 on sour orange trees infested with the diaspidid Parlatoria pergandii Comstock. The activity of the natural enemies of the scale, the composition of their population during the year as well as their relation with hymenopterous parasitoids of coccinellids, were studied. P. pergandii was parasitized by a hymenopterous endoparasite of the genus Encarsia and the extent of parasitization ranged between 5.2% and 14.1%. The observed predators were the coccinellids Chilocorus bipustulatus Linnaeus and Rhyzobius lophanthae Blaisdell and the nitidulid Cybocephalus fodori Endrody-Younga. The predominant predator was R. lophanthae (84.3% of the larvae and 73.3% of the adults), which was active throughout the whole year in all of its developmental stages. Second most abundant was the predator C. bipustulatus (15.7% of the larvae and 20% of the adults) and third the predator C. fodori (6.7% of the adults). Larvae of C. bipustulatus were observed to be parasitized by the hymenopterous parasitoids Homalotylus laminius Dalman (Encyrtidae) and Tetrastichus coccinellae Kurdjumov (Eulophidae). The parasitization percentage increased gradually from 4% in mid-June to 94% around the end of September. Laboratory tests confirmed that the above-mentioned parasitoids cannot infest larvae or nymphs of R. lophanthae.