Phenacoccus parvus Morrison

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Morrison's small mealybug

Field characters

Body oval; somewhat flattened dorsoventally; body light yellow; legs yellow; body covered by thin, white, mealy wax; without bare areas; ovisac absent dorsally, present ventrally, long and cylindrical, up to 3 times length of body; with 18 pairs of lateral wax filaments, all about same length, about 1/8 or less length of body. Occurring on roots and foliage of host.

Validation characters

Cluster of dorsomarginal oral-collar tubular ducts near 12th cerarius; multilocular disk pores absent from dorsum; dorsal oral-collar tubular ducts restricted to near body margin; translucent pores present on hind tibia; circulus usually small, circular or oval; quinquelocular pores abundant on ventral surface; denticle on claw; antennae 9-segmented.

Comparison

Phenacoccus parvus is very similar to P. manihoti Matile-Ferrero by having a cluster of dorsomarginal oral-collar tubular ducts near cerarius 12. Phenacoccus parvus differs by having no dorsal multilocular pores and by having a small round or oval circulus. Phenacoccus manihoti has a few dorsomarginal multiloculars and a mushroom shaped circulus.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 37 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Grenada, Guam, Hawaii, Israel, Jamaica, Peru, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vietnam. It is moderately polyphagous. We also have examined quarantine specimens from Bahamas (unknown host); Barbados (unknown host); Costa Rica (banana); Cuba (eggplant, pepper); Fiji (unknown host); Guadeloupe (Mexico)(unknown host); Jamaica (Capsicum); Mexico (Tillandsia); Tahiti (Chrysanthemum, Polyanthes); St. Thomas (USVI)(milkweed); Thailand (Oncinum); ScaleNet lists the species from more than 25 families of host plants. It occurs in many tropical areas including South and Central America, Mexico, Africa, the Pacific Islands, Australia, southern Asia and China. Several species of Phenacoccus other than P. defectus Ferris, P. franseriae Ferris, P. gossypii Townsend & Cockerell, P. hakeae Williams, P. helianthi (Cockerell), P. madeirensis Green, P. parvus, P. solani Ferris, P. solenopsis Tinsley and P. stelli (Brain) have been taken at U. S. ports-of-entry including: P. alleni McKenzie (Mexico, on Artemisia); P. avenae Borchsenius (Turkey, on Stachys); P. azaleae Kuwana (Japan, on azalea); P. graminicola Leonardi (New Zealand, on Feijoa); P. hurdi McKenzie (Mexico, on Dendranthema and Capsicum); P. indicus Avasthi & Shafee (Thailand, on Euphorbia); P. multicerarii Granara de Willink (Mexico, on unknown host); P. manihoti Matile-Ferrero (Central Africa and South America, on Manihot); P. nephelii Takahashi (Thailand, on Garcinia; Vietnam, on Nephelium); P. pergandei Cockerell (Japan and Korea, on Diospyros, Magnolia, Malus, Prunus, Punica, and Rhododendron); and P. persimplex Borchsenius (Kazakhstan, on Malus).

Important references

Willia2004; WilliaGr1992.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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