Study the mass culture, biology and predatory potential of Australian Lady Bird Beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulstant (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera)

An experiment was conducted to study the mass culture, biology and predatory potential of Australian lady bird beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri on pink mealy bug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus. Predatory potential and development period of C. montrouzieri grub was studied on the adult mealybug and the duration of first, second third and fourth instar of C. montrouzieri was found to be 3.10, 4.20, 4.60 and 7.60 days, respectively when they were fed with M. hirsutus. The predator completed its grub development in 19.50 days on mealybug. The mean number of mealybug adult consumed during first, second, third and fourth grub instar of C. montrouzieri averaged to 24.20, 28.38, 44.04 and 90.52, respectively. The results revealed that this predator feeds voraciously on adult mealybug. C. montrouzieri having a remarkable predatory potential can be used to reduce population of mealybug which will result in increasing the yield of crops.