Augmentative biological control of longtailed mealybug by Chrysoperla Rufilabris (Burmeister) in the interior plantscape

Periodic releases of a green lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris (Burmeister), reduced populations of the longtailed mealybug, Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti), in the interior plantscape. Paper masking-tape strips bearing ca. 150 C. rufilabris eggs mixed with eggs of the Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Oliver), as initial food for newly eclosed lacewing larvae, were placed one per six-inch pot of pothos ivy, Epipremnum aureum. Each such release of lacewing eggs kept longtailed mealybug populations below aesthetic injury levels for four weeks. Aesthetic qualities require the plant to retain basal leaves and have no obvious evidence of mealybug infestation such as yellow leaves or honeydew.