Icerya samaraia (Morrison)

Family

Monophlebidae

Field characters

Body pale yellow, legs and antennae probably black, covered by layer of white or usually lemon yellow wax, margin of body with long crystalline rods. Ovisac absent. Eggs laid inside marsupium inside body of female.

Validation characters

Large open center pores present around body margin; marsupium present; narrow band of pores surrounding marsupium opening; 3 pairs of abdominal spiracles; 3 to 5 cicatrices posterior of vulva; all cicatrices round or oval, lateral pair smaller than medial cicatrix; body covered with long hairs; antennae 9- to 11-segmented. Other characters: Thoracic and abdominal spiracles simple, without pores in atrium; anal opening simple without sclerotized rim internally.

Comparison

Icerya samaraia is very similar to Steatococcus nudatus (Maskell) by having a marsupium, narrow band of pores surrounding marsupium opening, and large open center pores. I. samaraia differs by lacking open center pores in medial area of dorsum (present in S. nudatus).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 7 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, and Taiwan. We also have examined specimens taken in quarantine from Guam (Areca); Indonesia (Areca); Malaysia (Cordyline, Nomaphila); New Guinea (Begonia); Palau Islands (Areca); Taiwan (palm). ScaleNet includes hosts in more than 25 plant families from the Australasian and Oriental zoogeographic regions. No other species of Icerya have been taken in quarantine at U. S. ports-of-entry other than I. aegyptiaca (Douglas), I. pulchra (Leonardi), I. purchasi (Maskell), I. samaraia and I. seychellarum (Westwood).

Important references

Morris1927; Reyne1965c; WilliaWa1990.

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