Icerya aegyptiaca (Douglas)

Family

Monophlebidae

Common name

Egyptian cottony cushion scale

Field characters

Body orange red, legs and antennae black, covered by thick layer of white wax, marginal areas with fringe of wax processes, shorter on head and thorax, posterior processes covering ovisac, giving fluted appearance. Eggs laid inside ovisac. Males apparently absent.

Validation characters

1 cicatrix posterior of vulva; 3 pairs of abdominal spiracles; with thin ovisac band; large open center pores absent; antennae 10- or 11-segmented. Other characters: Thoracic and abdominal spiracles simple, without pores in atrium; anal opening simple with sclerotized rim internally.

Comparison

Icerya aegyptiaca is very similar to I. imperatae Rao by having 3 pairs of abdominal spiracles; 1 cicatix near vulva; thin ovisac band; and lacking open center pores. Icerya aegyptiaca differs by having brown setae on body margin forming inconspicuous clusters of 3 to 4 setae (those on I. imperatae are black and form clusters of 8 to 10 setae).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 8 times at U. S. ports-of-entry on a variety of hosts between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Egypt, Israel, Malaysia, Nigeria, The Philippines, Singapore, Syrian Arab Republic, and Thailand. We also have examined specimens taken in quarantine from Australia (Codiaeum); Caroline Islands (Artocarpus, Cocos); Egypt (Ficus); Guam (Codiaeum); Guyana (Persea); Marshall Islands (Artocapus); Maylasia (Garcinia); The Philippines (Cocos, Codiaeum); Singapore (palm); Thailand (Citrus, Licuala, Nomaphila). ScaleNet includes hosts in over 45 plant families from the Afrotropical, Australasian, Oriental and Palaearctic zoogeographic regions. No other species of Icerya have been taken in quarantine at U. S. ports-of-entry other than I. aegyptiaca, I. pulchra (Leonardi), I. purchasi (Maskell), I. samaraia (Morrison) and I. seychellarum (Westwood).

Important references

MaityGh2004; Rao1951a; TangHa1995; WilliaWa1990.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

Click here for a Catalog.