Laboratory Studies on the Host Range of Curinus coeruleus Mulsant, an Exotic Predator of the Subabul Psyllid

The ladybird beetle Curinus coeruleus Mulsant was introduced into India from Thailand during October 1988 for the control of subabul psyllid Heteropsylla cubana Crawford (Jalali and Singh, 1989). This predator is a voracious feeder of the psyllids (Nakahara et al., 1987). Apart from H.cubana, the beetle is also known to feed on Nipaecoccus nipae (Maskell) (Nakahara et al., 1987), Planococcus citri (Risso), Coccus viridis (Green) (Wagiman et al., 1990), Chrysomphalus aonidum (Linnaeus), Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe, Aleurodicus dispersus Russel (Funasaki et al., 1988) and Aphis gossypii Glover (Napompeth and Maneeratana, 1990) in other countries. Hence a study was conducted in the laboratory to find out the host range of C. coeruleus in India.