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Survivorship of the spherical mealybug, Nipaecoccus vastator (Maskell), was significantly higher on branches of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) De Wit. (Leguminosae) tended by the ant, Technomyrmex albipes F. Smith, than on branches from which ants were excluded. The presence of ants decreased the percentage of mealybugs parasitized by the encyrtid, Anagyrus indicus Shafee, Alam, and Agarwal (Hymenoptera), and the mortality attributable to host killing by A. indicus and predation by other arthropods. Because ant interference occurs at only a few isolated localities in Guam, our experiments support the hypothesis that natural enemies play an important role in maintaining mealybug populations at low levels.
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Nechols et al. (1985) studied this question.
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