Icerya seychellarum (Westwood)

Family

Monophlebidae

Common name

Iceplant scale

Field characters

Body orange to brick red, legs and antennae black, covered by layer of white to often yellow wax; median area with longitudinal series of tufts, marginal areas with fringe of wax processes all about same length and with numerous silken threads. Ovisac produced below and behind female, covered with silken threads, weakly flutted. Immatures are yellow. Eggs are orange, laid inside ovisac. Males uncommon. Occurring primarily on the leaves of the host.

Validation characters

3 pairs of abdominal spiracles; large open center pores present around body margin and in dorsomedial area of head and throax, with triangular projection on inner rim; 3 cicatrices posterior of vulva; all cicatrices round, lateral pair smaller than medial cicatrix; body covered with long hairs; antennae usually 11-segmented; ovisac band thin, in most places 2 or 3 pores wide. Other characters: Thoracic and abdominal spiracles simple, without pores in atrium; anal opening simple with sclerotized rim internally.

Comparison

Icerya seychellarum is unique by having open center pores with triangular projection on inner margin; 3 abdominal spiracles; thin ovisac band; 3 cicatrices near vulva.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 30 times on a variety of hosts at at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from India, Indonesia, Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Mexico, The Philippines, and Taiwan. We also have examined specimens taken in quarantine from American Samoa (Alyxia); Australia (Adenanthos); Cambodia (Mangifera); Cook Islands (Alyxia); Dominican Republic (Melicoccus); Ecuador (bromeliad); Fiji (Murraya); India (Citrus, Murraya); Indonesia (Citrus); Malaysia (Nephelium); Mexico (Lucaena); The Philippines (Arachnis, Artemisia, Citrus, Codiaeum, Lagerstroemia, Lansium, Musa, Nephelium, Psidium); Singapore (Euphoria); Sri Lanka (unknown host); Tahiti (Gardenia, Mangifera, Musa, Psidium). ScaleNet includes hosts in more than 60 plant families from all but the Nearctic zoogeographic region. 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 (Morrison) and I. seychellarum.

Important references

Bedfor1965a; Morale1991; Morris1928; Rao1951a; WilliaWa1990.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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