Scale destroyer beetle and green lacewing as augmentative biological control agents against crapemyrtle bark scale in a landscape setting

The non-native crapemyrtle bark scale, Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae (Kuwana), has become a major landscape pest deteriorating the aesthetic value of crapemyrtles across the southeastern US. Whereas crapemyrtle bark scale is commonly managed with insecticides, field trials investigating the use of augmentative biological control against crapemyrtle bark scale are lacking. We determined if releases of scale destroyer beetle, Rhyzobius lophanthae (Blaisdell), adults and green lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris Burmeister, larvae can reduce established populations of crapemyrtle bark scale. A standardized number of either scale destroyer beetle, green lacewing, a combination of both, or neither were released onto crapemyrtles infested with crapemyrtle bark scale. Final densities of scale insects were then compared among predator release treatments. The results presented here will be useful in shaping management plans for crapemyrtle bark scale and guiding further research into the biological control of urban tree pests.