The association of an armoured scale insect (a diaspidid) with dieback of a population of a native cycad (Macrozamia communis L.A.S.Johnson) was investigated on the south coast of New South Wales. The diaspidid was found to be undescribed but morphologically similar to oleander scale – here we call it Aspidiotus cf. nerii. It is probably native to Australasia and its current known distribution is within Murramarang National Park (MNP). Aspidiotus cf. nerii has been abundant on symptomatic M. communis at MNP over at least the past decade and has spread to new parts of the park. In population studies of infested and uninfested areas we found that, although both areas had populations with reverse J curves showing dominance of seedlings, mortality of seedlings and caulescent plants was significantly higher in infested sites. Infested areas had been burnt less frequently than uninfested areas. Fire does not appear to eradicate the diaspidid but may reduce its effects enough for plants to recover. We recommend further research into the use of fire as a management tool. Although other factors may be contributing to the severity of the dieback, we suggest there is sufficient evidence for the diaspidid to be regarded as the primary cause of dieback in M. communis in MNP, regardless of its origin. Given the occurrence of similar diaspidids on cultivated plants in botanic gardens, translocation of threatened Macrozamia species using plants grown in nurseries should be undertaken with extreme caution.

在新南威尔士州的南海岸，调查了一种甲壳类昆虫（二叠纪昆虫）与本地苏铁（Macrozamia communis LASJohnson）种群的死亡的关联。该diaspidid被发现未描述，但形态相似夹竹桃规模-在这里，我们把它叫做Aspidiotus比照 nerii。它可能原产于澳大利亚，其当前已知分布在Murramarang国家公园（MNP）内。曲霉cf. nerii一直在丰富对症M.群落在MNP至少在过去的十年中，并已扩展到公园的新部分。在受感染和未受感染区域的种群研究中，我们发现，尽管两个区域的种群均具有反向J曲线，显示出苗木占优势，但在受灾区域中，幼苗和枯萎植物的死亡率明显更高。受感染的区域被烧毁的频率低于未受感染的区域。火灾似乎并未根除二叠纪动物，但可能会减少其影响，使植物得以恢复。我们建议对使用火作为管理工具进行进一步研究。尽管其他因素可能会导致死亡的严重程度，但我们建议有充分的证据将双亚哌啶认为是沙门氏菌死亡的主要原因。在MNP中，无论其来源如何。鉴于在植物园的栽培植物上也出现过类似的双翅类动物，因此应格外小心地使用苗圃中种植的植物进行濒危Macrozamia物种的转移。