Paracoccus interceptus Lit

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Intercepted mealybug

Field characters

We have been unable to locate a description of the field characteristics of this species in the literature. Based on characteristics of slide-mounted adult female: Body oval; ovisac absent from dorsum and present on venter; 15 or 16 pairs of thin lateral filaments, posterior pair longer than rest, surrounding body margin; body covered by white mealy secretion. Probably on arboreal parts of host.

Validation characters

Cluster of ventral oral collars laterad of front coxae, often with associated multilocular pores; without ventral oral-rim tubular ducts; dorsal setae short, longest about 15 µ long, about same length as conical cerarian setae; hind coxa conspicuously larger than front coxa; oral rims scattered over dorsal surface; 18 pairs of cerarii; ventral multilocular pores on abdomen in medial areas and near lateral body margin; circulus present.

Comparison

Paracoccus interceptus is similar to P. cognatus Williams by having a circulus, multilocular pores in lateral areas on ventral abdomen; cluster of ventral oral collars laterad of front coxa; no ventral oral-rim tubular ducts. Paracoccus interceptus differs from P. cognatus by having short dorsal setae and hind coxae larger than front coxae. Paracoccus cognatus has long dorsal setae and hind coxae about same size as front coxae.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 156 times on a variety of hosts at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Albania, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is commonly taken on a wide diversity of hosts, particularly tropical trees. We also have examined quarantine specimens from China (Litchi); Haiti (Hibiscus); Indonesia (Nephelium); Japan (Dimocarpus); Malaysia (Lansium, Litchi); The Philippines (Citrus, Dimocarpus; Garcinia, Lansium, Platonia, Psidium); South Korea (Diospyros); Thailand (Durio, Garcinia, Litchi, Nephelium); Vietnam (Dimocarpus, Garcinia); ScaleNet lists the species from more than 16 families of host plants. ScaleNet distribution records include Benin in the Afrotropic region and several countries in the Oriental zoogeographic region. Several species of Paracoccus other than P. brunerae (Brain), P. ferrisi Ezzat & McConnell, P. herreni Williams & Granara de Willink, P. interceptus, P. lycopersici Ezzat & McConnell, P. marginatus Williams & Granara de Willink, P. mexicanus Ezzat & McConnell and P. solani Ezzat & McConnell have been intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry including: P. hamoni Williams and Granara de Willink (Mexico, on Cephalocereus); P. circuliprivis Ezzat and McConnell (Mexico, on Thomsoniella); P. invectus Williams (Thailand and India, on orchids, including Dendrobium); and P. reductus Ferris (Mexico, on Yucca).

Important references

Cox1989 (as Planococcus morrisoni); Willia2004.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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