Establishment of Comperiella bifasciata (Hym.: Encyrtidae) on Aonidiella aurantii (Hom.: Diaspididae) in Cyprus.

Reference is made to the introduction, rearing, colonization and establishment of Comperiella bifasciata Howard to improve the effectiveness of biological control of the California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), in Cyprus. The parasitoid was colonized during 1985-89 and in 1993-94 it was recovered in all the surveyed areas. It has been permanently established and is more abundant in orchards with microclimatic conditions characteristic of intermediate and interior areas where Aphytis melinus DeBach is the dominant red scale parasite. Aphytis chrysomphali (Mercet) prevails only in some of the coastal areas with mild and rather humid microclimates. In the surveyed orchards the overall adult relative abundance of the three main parasitoids, A. melinus, A. chrysomphali and C. bifasciata was 54.1%, 42.1%, and 3.8%, respectively.