Phenacoccus solani Ferris

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Solanum mealybug

Field characters

Body oval; slightly rounded in lateral view; body color variable from light yellow to brown; legs red; covered by white, mealy wax; some specimens with medial wax crest; with faint submedial bare areas on abdomen of some specimens, these areas forming 1 pair of longitudinal lines on dorsum; ovisac absent; with 18 pairs of short lateral wax filaments, anterior pairs broken or very small, thim, posterior pairs broad, longest, about 1/8 or less of length of the body. Primarily occurring on subterranean parts of host, but occasionally on foliage. Surface of lateral filaments rough.

Validation characters

Without quinquelocular pores; without dorsal multilocular pores or oral-collar tubular ducts; ventral multilocular pores normally present on segments IV to VIII; normally with 8-segmented antennae; circulus usually small, oval or round; translucent pores on hind tibia only; denticle on claw.

Comparison

Phenacoccus solani is very similar to P. solenopsis Tinsley by lacking quinquelocular pores, dorsal multilocular pores, and dorsal oral-collar tubular ducts. Phenacoccus solani differs by having multilocular pores from segment IV to VIII; 8-segmented antennae; a small circulus; and translucent pores on tibia only, whereas Phenacoccus solenopsis has multiloculars restricted to segment VI, VII, and VIII; 9-segmented antennae; a large flaccid circulus; and translucent pores on apex of hind femur and on tibia.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 187 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Austria, Azores, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestinian Territory, Peru, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. It is polyphagous; therefore, we have not recorded older quarantine records. ScaleNet lists the species from more than 30 families of host plants. It occurs in all zoogeographic regions but is most common in the new world. 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 Morrison, P. solani, 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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