Dysmicoccus grassii (Leonardi)

Family

Pseudococcidae

Field characters

Field characters not recorded. Based on characteristics of slide-mounted adult female, with body oval; legs yellow; body covered by white mealy secretion; ovisac ventral only; 17 pairs of thin wax filaments around perimeter of body. Present on stems and leaves of host. Probably oviparous.

Validation characters

Numerous ventral oral collars laterad of front coxae; dorsal setae shorter than conical cerarian setae, stiff; discoidal pore near eye present or absent; ventral multiloculars on segments IV - VIII; 2 conical setae in each abdominal cerarius; translucent pores on hind femur and tibia.

Comparison

Dysmicoccus grassii is similar to D. orchidum by having short, stiff dorsal setae and 2 conical setae in cerarii. Dysmicoccus orchidum differs by lacking ventral oral collars laterad of front coxa; having translucent pores on hind coxa, trochanter, femur, and tibia; having ventral multilocular pores restricted to posterior 2 abdominal segements. This species also is similar to D. mackenziei but differs by having 2 conical setae in cerarii anterior of anal-lobe pair (D. mackenziei had more than 2).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 316 times on a variety of hosts at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Tortola and Trinidad and Tobago. We also have examined specimens taken in quarantine from Bahamas (Anonna, Coccolaba, Cocos, Eleuthra, Musa); Canary Islands (Spain) (banana); Colombia (Alpinia), Cuba (Anonna, Musa, pineapple, plantain); Dominican Republic (Anonna, Artocarpus, Citrus, Melicoccus, Mentha, Persea, Punica); Ecuador (banana); El Salvador (Mangifera); Guatemala (Schefflera); Haiti (orchid, Punica); Jamaica (Anonna, Citrus, Musa); Honduras (Crescentia); Mexico (Aglaeonema, Citrus, Psidium, Zingiber); Spain (banana); Nicaragua (Opuntia); it is most commonly intercepted from tropical or subtropical new world localities on a wide diversity of hosts especially coffee and cocoa. ScaleNet lists the species from more than 20 families of host plants. ScaleNet distribution records for D. grassii include all zoogeographic regions except the Australasian region. Until recently, it was identified as Dysmicoccus alazon Williams, but D. grassii is a much older name. Several species of Dysmicoccus other than D. boninsis (Kuwana), D. brevipes (Cockerell), D. grassii, D. lepelleyi (Betrem), D. mackenziei Beardsley, D. neobrevipes Beardsley, D. orchidum Williams, D. sylvarum Williams & Granara de Willink, D. wistariae Green and Dysmicoccus sp. nr. texensis have been taken in quarantine including: D. amnicola Williams & Watson (The Philippines, on Pandanus); D. finitimus Williams (Taiwan, on Cocos); D. hambletoni Williams and Granara de Willink (Ecuador, on Xanthosoma); D. hypogaeus Williams (Australia, on Chamelaucium and Leucospermum); D. joannesiae Costa Lima (Ecuador, on Inga); D. lansii Williams (The Philippines, on Lansium); D. probrevipes (Morrison)(Central and South America, on Coffea, Cordia, and Triplaris); D. queenslandianus Williams (Australia, on Allocasuarina); and D. viatorius Williams (The Philippines, on Lansium, Nephelium).

Important references

WilliaWa1988a; Willia2004; WilliaGr1992.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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