Rastrococcus iceryoides (Green)

Family

Pseudococcidae

Common name

Icerya mealybug

Field characters

Body oval to round; slightly rounded to convex in lateral view; light yellow; legs light yellow; mealy wax covering thick, in median area forming medial longitudinal ridge on thorax and abdomen; without longitudinal bare areas on dorsum; ovisac ventral, copious, tilting posterior end of female off of host substrate when fully developed, similar in appearance to cottonycushion scale (Icerya purchasi Maskell); lateral wax filaments variable in number, coalescing through time, when separate, broad at base narrowing to rounded point at apex, ultimately forming plate-like fringe around body, anterior filaments nearly 1/2 as long as width of body, posterior filaments slightly longer than others, about 1/4 length of body. Occurring on foliage, stems, and fruit of host. Oviparous, eggs honey yellow. Surface of lateral filaments smooth.

Validation characters

Anterior ostioles present; cerarii with more than 5 truncate setae; cerarii on anterior thorax and head coalesced; with long dorsal setae adjacent to anal ring; antennae 9-segmented; quinquelocular pores present on venter; denticle on claw.

Comparison

Rastrococcus iceryoides is unique among Rastrococcus species by having anterior ostioles and elongate dorsal setae near the anal ring. Other species in the genus lack anterior ostioles and have short setae near the anal ring.

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 25 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from China, India, Malaysia, and The Philippines.We also have examined additional quarantine specimens from India (Murraya); Sri Lanka (Codiaeum). ScaleNet lists the species from more than 30 families of host plants with distribution records from the Afrotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic zoogeographic regions. It has been intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry primarily on Codiaeum and Murraya. Four species of Rastrococcus other than R. iceryoides, R. invadens (Green), and R. spinosus (Robinson) have been taken at U. S. ports-of-entry including: R. expeditionis Williams (Vietnam, on Dimocarpus); R. biggeri Williams & Watson (Vietnam, The Philippines and Thailand, on Nephelium); R. jabadiu Williams (Indonesia, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, on Ficus, Nephelium, Stephanotis and Stropanthus); The Philippines and R. tropicasiatics Williams (The Philippines and Vietnam, on Mangifera, Murraya and Nephelium).

Important references

Willia1989, Willia2004.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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