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lobate lac scale - Paratachardina lobata lobata

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Battling the Lobate Lac Scale

There's a new invader in Florida with an abnormally varied appetite. It's a tiny insect, first spotted in Florida in 1999 and now found widely in the Southeast counties. It spreads on air currents and can suck the insides out of virtually every plant it can find--more than 120 species are affected so far. Bill Howard is an entomologist studying the lobate lac scale...

Scientists are working on ways to control the spread and effect of an insect first seen in Florida only a few years ago, but now found across the state's southeastern counties. It is the lobate lac scale which has the distinction of infesting and eating just about every plant it can find...

A tiny insect called the lobate lac scale was unknown in Florida until 1999. Since then, it's been spreading throughout the state's southeast counties, and is now being spotted harming or even killing plants in natural areas such as Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and Big Cypress National Preserve. Entomologist Bill Howard...

A non-native insect about the size of a crayon point is the latest enemy to Florida's native plants. The lobate lac scale was unheard of in Florida until 1999. Since then it's been found throughout Florida's southeast counties on more than 120 different plant and shrub species. Researchers like Bill Howard say the spread is a big surprise...

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A new everglades invader

With Florida's southeast counties already seeing the effect of an invasive insect called the lobate lac scale, scientists are trying to determine where and how the plant-sucking creature could spread in the future. Entomologist Bill Howard says the climate that attracted the insect might limit its spread...