Paraputo olivaceus (Cockerell)

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Olive-brown mealybug

Field characters

Body rotund, orange brown; body covered by thin layer of white mealy wax allowing body segmentation to be visible; probably not forming ovisac; lateral filaments short, surround body, becoming progressively longer posteriorly, caudal pair about 1/4^th length of body. Occurring on foliage.

Validation characters

Cerarian setae surrounding body margin, becoming fused and indistinct anteriorly; cerarii each with more than 3 conical setae; multilocular pores restricted to segments VI or VII and VIII; ventral anal lobe with or without sclerotization; oral-collar tubular ducts restricted to posterior abdominal segments and head; translucent pores present on hind coxa, trochanter, femur, and tibia; with few pores on femur and tibia sometimes absent on femur and/or tibia.

Comparison

Paraputo olivaceus is similar to P. ingrandi (Balachowsky) by having cerarii fused on thorax and head, cerarii with more than 3 conical setae, multilocular pores restricted to segment VI and vulvar area. Paraputo olivaceus can be distinguished (characters of P. ingrandi are in parentheses) by having oral-collar tubular ducts restricted to head and posterior abdominal segments (on head, thorax, and abdomen).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry 22 times between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Mexico. We also have examined specimens taken in quarantine from El Salvador (Citrus); Mexico (Diospyros, Echeveria, mamey, Mangifera, Psidium, Pyrus). ScaleNet lists hosts in 10 plant families. It is most commonly intercepted on Yucca. ScaleNet distribution records for P. olivaceus include Mexico and the The United States of America (Florida, California and Texas) in the Nearctic and Colombia in the Neotropical zoogeographic region. Several other species of Paraputo (formerly Cataenococcus) other than P. guatemalensis , P. odontomachi (Takahashi) and P. olivaceus have been taken at U. S. ports-of-entry including: P. carnosae (Takahashi) (Malaysia, on ferns); P. ingrandi Balachowsky (Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, El Salvador, on several hosts); P. larai Williams (Costa Rica and Colombia, on Cecropia; Mexico, on Opuntia); P. leveri (Green) (Fiji, on Calocasia); P. pandanicola Williams (Indonesia, on Pandanus fruit); P. malaccensis (Takahashi); and P. theaecola (Green) (India, on Cucurma, Hedychium, and Zantesdechia).

Important references

Ferris1953a; McKenz1967; WilliaGr1992

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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