Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy technics were aplied in order to describe, for the first time, the immature stages of Z. beaumonti Casey, 1899 reared on it's prey, Diaspis echinocacti (Bouché, 1833) (Homoptera, Diaspididae), the unique pest of Opuntia ficus-lndica Mill and Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dick (prickly-pear, Cactaceae), an impportant alternative food source for the cattle on drought áreas of Northeast of Brazil. Yellow eggs layed inside the scales, caraboid larvae without wax processes and pupae partially protected by the last exuvia presented the Scymninae pattern.
Coccinellidae; Scymninae; Zagloba beaumonti; morphology; imature stages