Pseudococcus elisae Borchsenius

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Banana mealybug

Field characters

Body oval; slightly rounded in lateral view; light orange to pink; body contents crushed are reddish brown; mealy wax covering body, not thick enough to hide pink body color; without longitudinal lines on dorsum; ovisac ventral only; with 17 lateral wax filaments, becoming progressively longer posteriorly, anterior pair about 1/4 width of body, straight, except posterior pair often curved apically, thin, posterior pair longest, varying from 3/4 to 1 time length of body. Primarily occurring on foliage and fruit of host. Oviparous. Surface of lateral filaments smooth.

Validation characters

Few dorsal oral-rim tubular ducts on abdomen (with an average of 8 and range of 1-13 ducts); usually without dorsolateral oral-rim tubular duct on segment VII; discoidal pores associated with eye, set in sclerotized rim; translucent pores on hind femur and tibia; ventral oral-collar tubular ducts in clusters between antennae and laterad of front and middle coxae.

Comparison

Pseudococcus elisae is very similar to P. jackbeardsleyi Gimpel and Miller by having large numbers of discoidal pores associated with the eye which are embedded in a sclerotized rim. Pseudococcus elisae differs by having an average of 8 and range of 1-13 dorsal oral-rim tubular ducts on abdomen; without dorsolateral oral-rim tubular duct on segment VII; tibia usually shorter or about same length as tarsus of hind pair of legs. Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi has an average of 21 and a range of 14-27 dorsal oral-rim tubular ducts on abdomen; usually has dorsolateral oral-rim tubular duct on segment VII; tibia usually slightly longer than tarsus of hind pair of legs.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 2626 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Brazil, The British Virgin Islands, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, Tahiti, Tortola, and The U.S. Virgin Islands. It is taken at U. S. ports-of-entry primarily on banana although it occasionally has been collected on a number of other hosts. We also have examined quarantine specimens from Bahamas (Hibiscus, Lycoperscion), Barbados (Aeschynomene, Gossypium); Belize (Cocos); Brazil (Mentha), Colombia (Begonia, Dieffenbachia, Musa); Costa Rica (Dracaena, Etlingera, Ficus, Hevea, Macademia, Theobroma, Zingiber); Cuba (Ananas, Citrus, Conocephalus, Coryphanta, lima bean, Lycoperscion, okra, pepper, pumpkin, Sechium, Solanum), Domincan Republic (Ananas, Apium, Aralia, Citrus, Hoya, Lycoperscion, Sechium, Tamarindus); Dominica (unknown host); Ecuador (Citrus, Musa); El Salavador (Fernaldia); Guatemala (Aralia, Musa, Zingiber); Grenada (Lycoperscion), Haiti (Punica); Hawaii (Ocimum); Honduras (Musa); Jamaica (Annona, Blighia, Carica, Capsicum, Codiaeum, Persea, Rumex); Martinique (Alpinia, Heliconia); Mexico (Musa, Cucumis, Heliconia, Physalis, Zingiber); Panama (Musa); The Philippines (Moringa, orchid); The Philippines (Manihot, Nephelium); Puerto Rico (Cajanus, Ipomaea, Macuna); Singapore (Aglaeonema); St. Thomas (USVI)(cotton); Thailand (Citrus, Cymbopogon, Nephelium, Psidium); Venezuela (Anthurium). ScaleNet lists the species from 11 families of host plants. It is restricted to the Neotropical zoogeographic region. Several species of Pseudococcus other than P. aurantiacus Williams, P. baliteus Lit, P. calceolariae (Maskell), P. comstocki (Kuwana), P. cryptus Hempel , P. dendrobiorum Williams, P. elisae, P. jackbeardsleyi Gimpel & Miller, P. landoi (Balachowsky), P. longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti), P. lycopodii Beardsley, P. maritimus (Ehrhorn), P. microcirculus McKenzie, P. nakaharai Gimpel & Miller , P. odermatti Miller & Williams, P. philippinicus Williams, P. pithecellobii Gimpel & Miller, P. soleneydos Miller & Gimpel and P. viburni (Signoret) have been taken at U. S. ports-of-entry including: P. agavis MacGregor (Mexico, on Agave); P. apodemus Williams (The Philippines, on Fortunella and Mangifera); P. apomicrocirculus Gimpel and Miller (Mexico, on orchids); P. apoplanus Williams (India, on orchids); P. chenopodii Williams (Australia, on Brunia); P. concavocerarii James (Somalia, on Euphorbia); P. donrileyi Gimpel and Miller (Mexico, on Citrus); P. eucalypticus Williams (Australia, on Eucalyptus and Chamelaucium); P. gilbertensis Beardsley (Guam, on Dracaena; The Philippines, on Citrus); P. importatus McKenzie (Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, The Philippines, South Africa, Trinidad, and Venezuela, on orchids); P. neomaritimus Beardsley (Mexico, on Citrus, Psidium, and Punica); P. neomicrocirculus Gimpel and Miller (Costa Rica, Guatemala and Venezuela, on orchids); P. orchidicola Takahashi (Kwajalein, Marshall, Samoa, and Tonga, on Alocasia, Dendrobium and Pandanus); P. peregrinabundus Borchsenius (Ecuador, on Musa); P. saccharicola Takahashi (Vietnam, on Saccharum); P. sociabilis (Brazil, on Annona, Cattleya, Carica, Hedera, Hippeastrum, Dahlia, Oncidium, Solanum and Zygopetalum); and P. solomonensis Williams (Micronesia and Palau, on Musa and Piper).

Important references

GimpelMi1996.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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