Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet Edition

Vedalia (Rodolia) ladybird beetle (397)

Relates to: Biocontrol

Photo 1. Adult Rodolia cardinalis. Note colour patterns and white short hairs over the body.

Photo 2. Adult citrus cushion scale, Icerya purchasi. Note that the fluted part is the eggsac.

Photo 3. Larva of Rodolia cardinalis.

Photo 4. The ladybird beetle, Rodolia cardinalis, feeding on a colony of the citrus cushion scale, Icerya purchasi.

Summary

Worldwide distribition. In Oceania. Australia (native), American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau, Tuvalu, Vanuatu. Preys on Icerya species.
Eggs, red, laid on or under scales. Larvae (greyish with black spots) feed on scale eggs (in eggsac), crawlers, larvae; adults red-brown, black behind the head, covered in short white hairs.
Important biocontrol beetle.
Biosecurity: Need to assess risk before introduction. Icerya may be food for native species, and non-target insects may be attacked, although host range is narrow.
Management: iii) avoid use of organophosphates, carbamates and synthetic pyrethroids; possible to use spinosad and abamectin if insecticides required to enhance control ; ii) use sleeve cages to protect populations initially; control ants: a) stomach poisons (fibronil, Amdro borax), b) growth regulators (methoprene, pyriproxyfen), c) nerve poisons (bifenthrin, fipronil, imidacloprid). See (http://piat.org.nz/getting-rid-of-ants).

Common Name

Vedalia beetle, cardinal ladybird

Rodolia cardinalis; previously known as Vedalia cardinalis

AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
¹Swaine G (1971) Agricultural Zoology in Fiji. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. London; and Rodolia cardinalis. Wikipedia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodolia_cardinalis); and Martin NA (2016) Cardinal ladybird - Rodolia cardinalis. (https://nzacfactsheets.landcareresearch.co.nz/factsheet/InterestingInsects/Cardinal-ladybird---Rodolia-cardinalis.html); and Hoddle M (2013) Biocontrol of Icerya with Rodolia in the Galapagos. UC Riverside. (https://biocontrol.ucr.edu/rodolia/rodolia_icerya_biocontrol_galapagos.html); and from Pacific Invasive Ant Toolkit. (http://piat.org.nz/getting-rid-of-ants). Photo 1 Katja Schulz, Rodolia cardinalis. Els Poblets, Alicante, Spain. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vedalia_Beetle_(15959056801).jpg). Photo2 Vijay Cavale, Icerya purchasi, found on a lemon tree in our garden in Bangalore City, India.(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scale_insect.jpg#file). Photo 3 Hectonichus, A larva of Rodolia cardinalis. Genova, Italy. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coccinellidae_-_Rodolia_cardinalis.JPG). Photo 4 Jeffrey W. Lotz, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bugwood.org.

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project HORT/2016/18: Responding to emerging pest and disease threats to horticulture in the Pacific islands, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Pacific Community.

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