Sticholotis cribellata is here reported as a predator of coconut scale, Aspidiotus destructor Signoret 1869 (Diaspididae), a major pest of coconut and banana, from Tamil Nadu, South India. Aspidiotus destructor is a highly polyphagous scale insect with host plants belonging to 142 genera in 73 families (García Morales 2016). It is a serious pest of banana, particularly in summer (April-July) and found almost throughout the year on coconut. In our surveys for banana pests and their natural enemies, all stages of the predator were collected in association with A. destructor on banana and coconut from the research farm of the ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli.

The adult beetles were observed to lift the wax covering or shield and feed on the exposed immature stages and adult scales (Fig. 1). The larva is dull yellowish brown with prominent, dark brown sclerotized plates on the thoracic segments (Fig. 2). The pupa (Fig. 3) is yellowish brown and densely setose with white hairs and the last larval skin attached to the caudal end (removed in Fig. 3). The adult is bright reddish to dull reddish brown to yellowish brown and typically with six black elytral spots, but the elytral pattern is highly variable with the maculae in various states of enlargement, fusion, or reduction in size (Fig. 4, 5).

Sticholotis cribellata was taxonomically treated by Poorani & Booth (2017), including illustrations of the variations and the male genitalia. Joshi et al. (2001) described and illustrated the immature stages and studied its biology on sugarcane scale, Gannaspis glomerata (as Melanaspis glomerata), and concluded it was a promising bioagent of sugarcane scale ‘in view of its high feeding potential and amenability to large scale mass multiplication’.