Planococcus lilacinus (Cockerell)

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Coffee mealybug

Field characters

Body rotund; conspicuously rounded in lateral view; brownish red or tan; mealy wax covering body, in thick segmental clumps on mature females, body color evident at segmental lines; with dorsomedial bare area on dorsum forming central longitudinal stripe or oval area; ovisac absent; with 18 lateral wax filaments, broad, convergent, posterior pairs sometimes curved, others straight, all filaments about same length, about 1/8 length of body. Primarily occurring on the fruit, stems, and foliage of host; specimens have been reported on the roots of coffee. Ovoviviparous, first instars pale maroon. Surface of lateral filaments rough.

Validation characters

Longest dorsal seta longer than 50 µ; legs robust, hind femur with an average of 2.4 and a range of 2.1 to 2.8 times longer than greatest width; translucent pores on hind coxa and tibia, absent from femur; without dorsolateral tubular ducts; usually with ventral oral-collar tubular ducts laterad of front and middle coxae; usually with ventral oral collars between antennae;usually without multilocular pores posterior of front coxa; anal bar present; 18 pairs of cerarii; no auxiliary setae.

Comparison

Planococcus lilacinus can be distinguished from other species in the genus by having elongate dorsal setae (50 µ or longer) and robust legs (hind femur with an average of 2.4 and a range of 2.1 to 2.8 times longer than greatest width). Other species of Planococcus treated in this key have dorsal setae shorter than 50 µ and slender legs (hind femur with an average of 3.2 and a range of 2.7 to 4.1 times longer than greatest width).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 1346 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Fiji, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Peru, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vietnam. It is commonly taken on a wide variety of plants and is cosmopolitan; therefore, we have not recorded older quarantine records. ScaleNet lists the species from more than 30 families of host plants. Several species of Planococcus other than P. citri (Risso), P. ficus (Signoret), P. halli Ezzat & McConnell, P. kraunhiae (Kuwana), P. lilacinus, P. litchi Cox and P. minor (Maskell) have been taken at U. S. ports-of-entry including: P. angkorensis (Takahashi) (China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, The Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, on many tropical plants); P. dendrobi Ezzat and McConnell (India, The Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, on Cypripedium, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis, Saccolobium and Vanda); P. hosnyi Ezzat and McConnell (South Africa, on orchid); P. hospitus De Lotto (Uganda, on Cyrtorchis); P. japonicus Cox (Japan and The Philippines, on Carpinus, Fatsia, Lansium, Malus, Rhododendron and Vitis); P. kenyae (LePelley) (Nigeria, Sierra Leone, on Ficus and Cola); P. mali Ezzat and McConnell (New Zealand, on Malus and Olearia); P. orchidi Cox (Liberia, on orchids); and P. philippinensis Ezzat and McConnell (The Philippines, on Aerides, Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Eria, Phalaenopsis, Spathoglottis and Vanda).

Important references

Cox1989; Willia2004.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

Click here for a Catalog.