With the support of Dr. Aubrey Moore of the University of Guam and his assistant Mr. Robert Bourgeois, staff of the Bureau of Agriculture and the Belau National Museum released a biological control agent on Monday, March 2, at four locations in Koror where the cycad plants are heavily infested. The biological control agent is a tiny beetle (less than 1/8 inch long) which eats the scale insects and also lays its eggs in the adult female scales. The beetle only eats scale insects and it is not a threat to any other living things. It has provided good control of the scale in Guam, and we hope it will be as effective here. Following the release of the beetle, BOA and BNM staff surveyed Babeldaob and the Rock Islands with Dr. Moore and Mr. Bourgeois to see how far the scale has spread.
This project is being carried out with funding support from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the United States Forest Service (USFS). We are grateful to the University of Guam, the Belau National Museum, and the Bureau of Marine Resources for their support. Thanks also to Emmaus High School, Topside Mobil Station, the Division of Parks & Recreation, Belau National Hospital, and the Koror State Department of Conservation and Law Enforcement for their cooperation.The Cycad Scale is a serious threat to both ornamental and native cycad plants. (Cycad plants are known in Palauan as Remiang). Palau has a native species of cycad/remiang, which is an important part of the native forest in the Rock Islands. So far the scale insects have only been found on introduced ornamental cycad species in Koror and Airai, but if they are not controlled they will soon spread to native cycad plants in the Rock Islands. The cycad scale has killed thousands of native cycad plants on Guam, and the same impact can be expected in the Rock Islands if the scale is not controlled. The Bureau of Agriculture prohibited the importation of cycad plants into Palau in 2004, following the scale outbreak in Guam. It is not known how the scale entered Palau.Scale insects only move when immature; the adults attach themselves to a plant surface and cover themselves with a waxy coating. Heavy infestations of scale insects cause browning and death of leaves, and they eventually kill the entire plant. Cycad plants infested with the cycad scale can be recognized by the leaves first being covered with tiny white spots. Eventually the leaves turn brown and die. If you see an infested plant, please call the Bureau of Agriculture at 488-2504.
