Crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS), Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae (Kuwana) (Hemiptera: Eriococcidae), is a non-native scale insect that has spread throughout many urban areas of the Southeast and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States following its initial detection near Dallas, Texas in 2004, severely reducing the aesthetic value and health of the popular ornamental crapemyrtle tree (Lagerstroemia spp.). We infested crapemyrtles with known numbers of CMBS to determine the minimum number of individuals required for establishment after initial arrival on plants. We also investigated how netting—implemented to understand differences in establishment when scale dispersal and predation are inhibited—influenced population growth. We determined that one female CMBS egg sac can successfully establish a new population ~ 92% of the time and that netting had negligible effects on establishment. Our results underscore the importance of surveying and managing CMBS and scale insects with similar biology when attempting to prevent infestation of nursery stock, which is widely implicated as a vector for long-distance dispersal of scale insects.

Crapemyrtle 树皮鳞片 (CMBS)，Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae (Kuwana)（半翅目：Eriococcidae）是一种非本地介壳虫，在达拉斯附近首次发现后，已蔓延到美国东南部和中大西洋地区的许多城市地区， 2004 年，德克萨斯州严重降低了流行的观赏紫薇树 ( Lagerstroemia spp.)的审美价值和健康。我们用已知数量的 CMBS 侵染紫薇树，以确定初次到达植物后建立定居所需的最小个体数量。我们还研究了网捕——用于了解当规模扩散和捕食受到抑制时建立的差异——如何影响种群增长。我们确定，一个雌性 CMBS 卵囊在大约 92% 的时间内可以成功建立一个新种群，并且结网对建立的影响可以忽略不计。我们的研究结果强调了在试图防止苗木侵染时调查和管理具有相似生物学特性的 CMBS 和介壳虫的重要性，苗木被广泛认为是介壳虫长距离传播的媒介。