HYPERASPIS BINOTATA, A PREDATORY ENEMY OF 

 THE TERRAPIN SCALE 



By F. L. SiMANTON, 



Entomological Assistant, Deciduous Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of Ento?nology 



INTRODUCTION 



One of the most effective enemies of lecanium scales is the coccinellid 

 beetle Hyperaspis hinotata Say. Its economic importance was impressed 

 on the writer during the seasons of 191 2 and 191 3, when he was studying 

 the life history and control of the terrapin scale (Eulecanium nigrofasciatum 

 Pergande). Throughout the spring and early summer the larvae, con- 

 spicuous by their flocculent covering, could be found in large numbers 

 feeding upon the immature scales and overturning the adult scales. The 

 adult beetles do not feed upon the mature scales, but they destroy the 

 young and also attack aphides, or plant lice, and other soft-bodied insects. 

 In view of the economic importance of this beetle a study of its life 

 history was undertaken at the suggestion of Dr. A. L. Quaintance, in 

 charge of Deciduous Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology. 

 The work was begun in the summer of 191 2 and completed in 1913. 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY 



Very little has been written about Hyperaspis binoiata. Say (i, p. 303),* 

 in 1826, described the male under the present name, and the female as 

 Coccinella normaia. G. R. Crotch (2, p. 380) considered the form with 

 the subapical red spot as a variety of H. signata Olivier, and gave as 

 synonyms H. hinotata Say, H. normata Say, and H. lettcopsis Melsheimer, 



T. Iv. Casey (3, p. 124), in 1899, considered H. hinotata Say as a 

 distinct species and gave the following synonymy: H. signata Le 

 Conte, H. normata Say, H. affinis Randall, and H. leucopsis Melsheimer. 



J. G. Sanders (4, p. 3), in 1905, mentions H. hinotata as a valuable 

 predatory enemy of Pulvinaria spp. J. B. Smith (5, p. 606; 6, p. 570), 

 in the same year, reported the same species as reducing an infestation 

 of Pulvinaria spp. at Montclair, N. J., from 500 to 1,000 scales to a leaf 

 to about one dozen scales to a leaf. 



S. A. Forbes (7), in his annual report for 1908, mentions the species as 

 one of the principal enemies of Pulvinaria spp. in Illinois. In 1910, W. S. 

 Blatchley (8, p. 523), gives a key to the species of Hyperaspis found in 

 Indiana and remarks that H. hinotata Say is " a variety of H. signata Oliv., 

 having the subapical spot lacking, color and structure otherwise exactly 

 as in that species." W. E. Britton (9, 8), in 1914, treats this species, 



' Reference is made by number to " I,iterature cited," p. loj. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. VI, No. s 



Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. May i, 1916 



do K— 30 



(197) 



