Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti)

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Longtailed mealybug

Field characters

Body oval; slightly rounded in lateral view; body color variable from light yellow to gray, pink, or light purple; mealy wax covering body, thin enough so that body color shows through; with 3 longitudinal lines on dorsum, with single, broad dorsomedial line, with 2, thin submarginal lines; ovisac absent, sometimes with a few waxy strands under body; with 17 lateral wax filaments, with exception of posterior 2 pairs all about same size, about 1/2 as wide as body, posterior pairs conspicuously longer than others, posterior pair as long as or longer than body, next pair about half as long as posterior pair. Primarily occurring on foliage of host. Usually ovoviviparous, rarely producting eggs which hatch soon after being laid, eggs yellow. Surface of lateral filaments rough.

Validation characters

More than 1 dorsal oral-rim tubular duct near most abdominal cerarii; ventral multilocular pores restricted to segments VIII and VII; penultimate and anal lobe cerarii with conspicuous basal sclerotization; ventral oral-collar tubular ducts absent or uncommon in marginal areas of thorax and head; 17 pairs of cerarii; auxiliary setae present in cerarii; without discoidal pores near eye.

Comparison

Pseudococcus longispinus is similar to P. microadonidum Beardsley and P. marshallensis Beardsley by having more than 1 dorsal oral-rim tubular duct near most abdominal cerarii and having the ventral multilocular pores confined to the vulvar area. Pseudococcus longispinus differs by having the penultimate cerarius heavily sclerotized and more than 65 µ in diameter, whereas P. microadonidum and P. marshallensis have the penultimate cerarius less sclerotized and less than 50 µ in diameter.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 836 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Albania, American Samoa, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azores, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Hawaii, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, The Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tahiti, Taiwan, Thailand, Tortola, Trinidad and Tobago, The United States of America, The U.S. Virgin Islands, Venezuela, and Vietnam. It is commonly taken on a wide variety of host plants and is considered to be polyphagous. We have not included a list of older quarantine records because the species is cosmopolitan. ScaleNet lists the species from more than 80 families of host plants in all zoogeographic regions. It is intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry from nearly any area of the world since it occurs outdoors in warm areas and in greenhouses and indoor landscapes in cooler areas. 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 Gimpel & Miller, P. landoi (Balachowsky), P. longispinus, 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

McKenzie1967, WilliaGr1992, Willia2004.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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