Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga

Smith, Trevor Randall, 2022, Review of the Cybocephalidae (Coleoptera) of North America and the West Indies with descriptions of two new species of Cybocephalus Erichson, Insecta Mundi 2022 (950), pp. 1-35 : 22

Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga

( Fig. 4–6 , 112–119 )

Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga 1971: 244–245 .

Distribution. Throughout the USA and West Indies.

Hosts. Diaspidae: Aonidiella aurantia (Maskell) , Aspidiotus destructor Signoret , Aulacaspis crawii (Cockerell) , Aulacaspis tubercularis Newstead , Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi , Carulaspis visci (Schrank) , Chrysomphalus bifasciculatus Ferris , Diaspidiotus macropranus (Takagi) , Fiorinia externa Ferris , Fiorinia phantasma Cockerell and Robinson , Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret) , Hemichonaspis sp., Lepidosaphes beckii (Newman) , Pseudaulacaspis cockerelli (Cooley) , Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni-Tozzetti) , Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Comstock) , Unaspis euonymi (Comstock) , Unaspis yanonensis Kuwana ; Tetranychidae : Panonychus citri (McGregor) .

Remarks. This species is used extensively as a biological control agent ( Smith and Cave 2006a, b). While native to Asia and the South Pacific, it has been released throughout the U.S. and West Indies to control scale insects. Cybocepahlus nipponicus was brought into California to control A. aurantii and L. beckii as early as 1932, were mass-reared in the Orange County Insectary, and were successfully established ( Flanders 1934; Rosen and DeBach 1978). Later from 1947–1951, over 261,000 C. nipponicus were reared in the Fontana Laboratory and shipped to Bermuda to help control C. visci ( Sellers 1959) . In both cases, these beetles were brought in from southern China, and Rosen and DeBach (1978) speculated that they were “probably gibbulus Erich. ” However, after examining several of the original specimens of both the Orange County Insectary and Fontana Laboratory, the author has determined definitively that the species reared in these facilities was, in fact, C. nipponicus . Additionally, the author examined the cybocephalid beetles released in South Africa and published as “ Cybocephalus binotatus Grouvelle ” (Labuschagne et al. 1996; Le Lagadec 2004). This species, released to control A. tubercularis , is also C. nipponicus and was misidentified as C. binotatus . The confusion over the identification of C. binotatus and C. nipponicus is explained in detail in Smith and Cave (2006a, b). In the eastern USA, C. nipponicus was the focus of control programs for the euonymus scale, U. euonymi in the eastern US and the cycad aulacaspis scale, A. yasumatsui in Florida and the West Indies ( Alvarez and Van Driesche 1998a, b; Smith and Cave 2006b). Recently, C. nipponicus was found to be the primary predator of the newly introduced F. phantasma high in the canopy of Canary Island date palms ( Phoenix canariensis Hort ) in southern Florida ( Ahmed et al. 2021). For a full description of this species, see Smith and Cave (2006a).

Figures

Figures 1–9. Generic characters. 1) Conglobatus armatus T. R. Smith ventral habitus. 2) Conglobatus armatus T. R. Smith ventro-lateral habitus. 3) Head of Conglobatus armatus T. R. Smith. 4) Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga ventral habitus. 5) Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga lateral habitus. 6) Head of Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga. 7) Pycnocephalus metallicus Sharp ventral habitus. 8) Pycnocephalus metallicus Sharp lateral habitus. 9) Head of Pycnocephalus metallicus Sharp.

Figures 112–119. Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga. 112) Antenna. 113) Proleg. 114) Mesoleg. 115) Metaleg. 116) Median lobe. 117) Median lobe, lateral view. 118) Basal plate. 119) Metanotum.