In the recent years, a canvas of blossoming Taiwan lilies has become the most beautiful sight at the area of Weishui Vistor Center Shei-Pa National Park in spring. This year’s spring came earlier, so many species of plants began budding and flowering ahead of their schedules. To prevent hazards to the ecology and the health of the staff, Shei-Pa National Park Headquarters decided to replace chemical insecticides with natural disease prevention methods. The Office invited experts from the Biological Control Branch Station of Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station to implement biological controls in the Park. The technical staff from the Biological Control Branch released the natural predators of the Aphidoidea- the Chrysopidae to control the population of the disease-causing insects and restore the lilies back to full bloom.

Shei-Pa National Park Headquarters pointed out that the biological control measures implemented to the lilies is a tactic involving placement of unhatched eggs of the Chrysopidae around the Taiwan lilies. The larva of the Chrysopidae is known as “lions” to the Aphidoidea because the larva bites into the insects with its large and small jaws to suck out the body fluid, and hunts smaller or slower insects, such as the Aphidoidea, Aleyrodidae, and mites, as well as insect eggs. Therefore, the Chrysopidae is a natural predator of insects beneficial to disease control. Although it does not fully exterminate the disease-causing insects, it is highly effective in terms of suppressing the population, and is a preferred method for disease control.