This book has two primary objectives: (1) to enable interested workers who are not specialists of scale insects to recognize and identify these in families, genera and species, and (2) to provide information on the life cycle, host-plant range, natural enemies, geographical distribution and economic importance for each known species from Central Europe, as well as a bibliography on each taxa covered. Scale insects are important pests of fruit and nut trees, forest vegetation, woody ornamentals, greenhouse and indoor plants. World-wide losses and increased production costs are estimated to reach $5 billion annually. It is difficult to recognize scale insects because of their microscopic size and hidden habits. Identification of pest species enables plant growers to check appropriate reference sources for biological information and to select control methods. With resistance to insecticides shown by a number of species, special efforts are needed to reduce the use of chemicals and to employ integrated pest management emphasizing biological control methods. Thus, the authors provide information on the known natural enemies of each species, and on the parasites and predators which could be considered for biological control of pest scales. This work is an essential reference for economic entomologists, plant production and protection consultants, plant quarantine inspectors, biologists, and especially for zoologists and coccidologists.
