Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi Gimpel and Miller

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Jack Beardsley mealybug

Field characters

We have been unable to locate a description of the field characters for this species in the literature. We assume that it is similar to that of P. elisae which is as follows: Body oval; slightly rounded in lateral view; light orange to pink; body contents crushed are reddish brown; mealy wax covering body, not thick enough to hide pink body color; without longitudinal lines on dorsum; ovisac ventral only; with 17 lateral wax filaments, becoming progressively longer posteriorly, anterior pair about 1/4 width of body, straight, except posterior pair often curved apically, thin, posterior pair longest, about 1/4 to 1 time length of body. Primarily occurring on foliage and fruit of host. Oviparous. Surface of lateral filaments smooth.

Validation characters

With many dorsal oral-rim tubular ducts on abdomen (with an average of 21 and a range of 15-27); with dorsolateral oral-rim tubular duct on segment VII; discoidal pores associated with eye, set in sclerotized rim; translucent pores on hind femur and tibia; ventral oral-collar tubular ducts in clusters between antennae and laterad of front and middle coxae.

Comparison

Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi is very similar to P. elisae by having large numbers of discoidal pores associated with the eye which are embedded in a sclerotized rim. Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi differs by having an average of 21 and range of 14 to 27 dorsal oral-rim tubular ducts on abdomen; with dorsolateral oral-rim tubular duct on segment VII; tibia usually slightly longer than tarsus of hind pair of legs. Pseudococcus elisae has an average of 8 and a range of 1 to 14 dorsal oral-rim tubular ducts on abdomen; usually lacks dorsolateral oral-rim tubular duct on segment VII; tibia usually shorter or about same length as tarsus of hind pair of legs.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 1273 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Belize, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Cost Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Palestinian Territory, Panama, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Singapore, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Tahiti, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, The United Arab Emirates, The United States of America, The U. S. Virgin Islands, Venezuela, and Vietnam. It is taken at U. S. ports-of-entry on a wide diversity of hosts from annuals such as peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes to many tropical fruit trees, and tropical shrubs, and ornamentals and is considered to be polyphagous; therefore, we have not recorded older quarantine records. ScaleNet lists the species from more than 45 families of host plants. It occurs in the Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical, and Oriental zoogeographic regions and is commonly intercepted from the Caribbean and Central and South America. Several species of Pseudococcus other than P. aurantiacus Williams, P. baliteus Lit, P. calceolariae (Maskell), P. comstocki (Kuwana), P. cryptus Hempel , P. dendrobiorum Williams, P. elisae Borchsenius, P. jackbeardsleyi, P. landoi (Balachowsky), P. longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti), P. lycopodii Beardsley, P. maritimus (Ehrhorn), P. microcirculus McKenzie, P. nakaharai Gimpel & Miller , P. odermatti Miller & Williams, P. philippinicus Williams, P. pithecellobii Gimpel & Miller, P. soleneydos Miller & Gimpel and P. viburni (Signoret) have been taken at U. S. ports-of-entry including: P. agavis MacGregor (Mexico, on Agave); P. apodemus Williams (The Philippines, on Fortunella and Mangifera); P. apomicrocirculus Gimpel and Miller (Mexico, on orchids); P. apoplanus Williams (India, on orchids); P. chenopodii Williams (Australia, on Brunia); P. concavocerarii James (Somalia, on Euphorbia); P. donrileyi Gimpel and Miller (Mexico, on Citrus; Puerto Rico, on Melicoccus); P. eucalypticus Williams (Australia, on Eucalyptus and Chamelaucium); P. gilbertensis Beardsley (Guam, on Dracaena; The Philippines, on Citrus); P. importatus McKenzie (Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, The Philippines, South Africa, Trinidad, and Venezuela, on orchids); P. neomaritimus Beardsley (Mexico, on Citrus, Psidium, and Punica); P. neomicrocirculus Gimpel and Miller (Costa Rica, Guatemala and Venezuela, on orchids); P. orchidicola Takahashi (Kwajalein, Marshall, Samoa, and Tonga, on Alocasia, Dendrobium and Pandanus); P. peregrinabundus Borchsenius (Ecuador, on Musa); P. saccharicola Takahashi (Vietnam, on Saccharum); P. sociabilis (Brazil, on Annona, Cattleya, Carica, Hedera, Hippeastrum, Dahlia, Oncidium, Solanum and Zygopetalum); and P. solomonensis Williams (Micronesia and Palau, on Musa and Piper).

Important references

GimpelMi1996, Willia2004.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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