Lounsbury (Prof. C. P.)

A naturalist who casually found in Madeira, in the gardens of the 'Bela Vista' hotel, a small insect about half a millimeter long, which was named Prospatella Lounsburyi or Aspidiotiphagus Lounsburyi, and which destroys the Chrysomphalus dictyospermi, a scale insect that lives on orange trees, palm trees, banana trees, incense trees, etc..

The small insect we refer to, probably imported from America, where it has not yet been found, reproduces, apparently, by parthenogenesis and feeds on the larvae of Chrysomphalus, this scale insect that significantly damages our orange trees and other useful species.

In volume XI of Redia (1916), on page 305, Professors Berlese and Paoli described the Prospaltella, and their work was entitled: Un endofago esotico efficace contra il Chrysomphalus dictyospermi, Morg. Lapas e Paoli.