Ortheziola vejdovskyi Šulc

Family

Ortheziidae

Common name

Moss ensign scale

Field characters

Body oval or round, light brown; white wax plates forming marginal and mediolateral longitudinal lines leaving conspicuous yellow bare area medially and 2 yellow bands; 4 broad marginal processes all about same length, resting on ovisac posteriorly; 6 or 7 mediolateral plates all about same length. Ovisac produced from ventral abdomen carried by female, not attached to host, shorter than length of female, slightly ribbed, straight with “V” shaped tip. Immatures are oval, light yellow. Eggs are laid inside ovisac. Usually found in moss.

Validation characters

Posterior dorsal wax plate on head undivided, extending across midline; wax plate laterad of hind coxa absent; without wax plate anterior of mid and hind coxae; ventral wax plates limited to area near opening of thoracic spiracles, not forming band along margin of thorax; with wax plate on ventral surface between antennae; without dorsal wax plates in medial areas of thorax and anterior abdomen; 1 transverse spine band inside ovisac band. Other characters: Antennae 3 segmented; eye on basal pseudosegment of antenna; claw with hairlike setae; well developed sclerotized plate anterior of anal ring; 4 pairs of inconspicuous abdominal spiracles.

Comparison

Ortheziola vejdovskyi is similar to O. britannica Kozar & Miller by having wax plates limited to area near opening of thoracic spiracles; with wax plate on ventral surface between antennae; without dorsal wax plates in medial areas of thorax and anterior abdomen; 1 transverse spine band inside ovisac band. Ortheziola vejdovskyi differs by having posterior dorsal wax plate on head undivided, extending across midline (represented by small lateral cluster on O. britannica) and wax plate laterad of hind coxa absent (present on O. britannica).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was not intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012 but it is included because it had been intercepted several times previously. We have examined specimens taken in quarantine from Belgium (Rosa, probably on moss associated with rose; England (soil); France (woods moss); Germany (Rosa, probably on moss associated with rose). ScaleNet includes hosts in 7 plant families; it occurs in the Palaearctic zoogeographic region. No other species of Ortheziola other than O. vejdovskyi have been intercepted at a U. S. port-of-entry.

Important references

KosztaKo1988F; Kozar2004; KozarMi2000; Morris1925; Sulc1895

Scalenet catalog and citation list

Click here for a Catalog.