Milviscutulus mangiferae (Green)

Family

Coccidae

Common name

Mango shield scale

Field characters

Body nearly triangular; flat to slightly convex in lateral view; body yellow-green in new females, brown in older females; reddish-brown flecks in middle of body; without an obvious wax covering; ovisac absent. Occurring primarily on leaves of host. Males usually absent or rare; eggs laid under the body of female.

Validation characters

Anal plates located near hind pair of legs; anterior margin of anal plates conspicuously longer than posterior margin; body triangular; dorsal setae capitate; marginal setae fringed; multilocular pores predominantly with 7 or 8 loculi; multiloculars restricted to vulvar area; ventral tubular ducts medial between legs, with diffuse submarginal band on abdomen; legs small, with tibio-tarsal sclerosis, but not articulated; mouthparts frequently oriented to 1 side of body. Other characters: Claw without denticle; claw digitules equal in size; 1 pair of prevulvar setae (often obscured by anal plates); 6-14 submarginal tubercles around body margin; stigmatic setae differentiated from other marginal setae, middle seta longer than lateral setae; each anal plate with 4 apical setae, without a subdiscal seta; with 1 subapical seta on each plate; anal fold with 4 fringe setae; antennae 6-, 7-, or 8-segmented; preopercular pores in small numbers, inconspicuous.

Comparison

Milviscutulus mangiferae is similar to M. ciliatus Williams and Watson by having similarly shaped and positioned anal plates and a triangular body shape. Milviscutulus mangiferae differs by having the apices of the marginal setae strongly frayed (slightly frayed in M. ciliatus) and straight (curved in M. ciliatus). Milviscutulus mangiferae is also similar to Protopulvinaria longivalvata in body shape and the position of the anal plates on the dorsum but differs by lacking distorted coxae (present in P. longivalvata), and shorter anal plates (long in P. longivalvata).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 87 times on a variety of hosts at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from American Samoa, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Polynesia, Guatemala, Hawaii, Indonesia, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tahiti, The U.S. Virgin Islands, and Vietnam. We also have examined specimens taken in quarantine from Bahamas (Callistemon, Eugenia, Pittosporium); Barbados (Carica, Persea); Colombia (Dieffenbachia); Costa Rica (Artocarpus, Mangifera); Cuba (Mangifera, Musa); Ecuador (Mangifera); El Salvador (Gardenia, Mangifera); Guyana (Mangifera); Honduras (Artocarpus, Gardenia); Indonesia (Mangifera); Israel (Myrtus); Jamaica (Adenium, Artocarpus, Laurus, Mangifera, Rosa); Martinique (Mangifera); Mexico (Bouvardia, Chamaedorea, Citrus, Eugenia, Gardenia, Ixora, Mangifera, Persea, Plumeria, Spathodea, Zingiber); Panama (Colocasia); The Philippines (Lansium, Mangifera, Schefflera); Puerto Rico (Mangifera, Musa); Samoa (unknown host); Singapore (Cordyline); Sri Lanka (Cordyline); St. Croix (Mangifera); St. Thomas (unknown host); Thailand (Cordyline, Ixora); Tobago (Mangifera); Trinidad (Mangifera); Venezuela (Mangifera). ScaleNet includes hosts in over 39 plant families from all zoogeographic regions in 55+ countries. One other species of Milviscutulus other than M. mangiferae has been taken at U. S. ports-of-entry, M. ciliatus Williams & Watson (Tahiti, on Alpinia sp.).

Important references

AvidovZa1960; BenDovWiRa1975; Hodgso1994a; WilliaWa1990

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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