Saissetia coffeae (Walker)

Family

Coccidae

Common name

Hemispherical scale

Field characters

Body broadly oval or round; conspicuously convex in cross section in older females; body yellow with dark areas in young females, as specimens mature becoming light brown; young females with raised areas forming an "H" on dorsum, disappearing in older females; without obvious wax covering or ovisac; hemispherical body forms a cavity under female where eggs are laid. Occurring on leaves and stems.

Validation characters

Ventral submarginal tubular ducts with conspicuously expanded filament; anal plates with conspicuous discal seta; derm with areolations in older females; marginal setae mostly fimbriate or expanded. Other characters: Dorsal tubular ducts absent; 4-16 submarginal dome-shaped tubercles; each anal plate with 3 apical setae and no subdiscal seta; with 2 to 4 subapical setae on each plate; anal fold with 4 to 6 fringe setae; ventral tubular ducts scattered over venter, small and inconspicuous in medial areas; multilocular pores normally with 10 loculi; multiloculars present in vulvar area forward to mesothorax; multilocular pores anterior of anterior spiracle predominantly with 5 loculi, about same size as pores laterad of anterior spiracle, rarely with 7-10 locular pores; tibio-tarsus articulated, with sclerosis; claw without denticle; claw digitules equal; 3 pairs of prevulvar setae (posterior pair often obscured by anal plates); stigmatic setae differentiated from other marginal setae, middle seta longer than lateral setae; anal plates with posterior margin about equal to length of anterior margin; antennae usually 8-segmented, rarely with as few as 6; preopercular pores inconspicuous, restricted to area anterior of anal plates.

Comparison

Saissetia coffeae is similar to S. neglecta and S. oleae by having a disc seta on anal plates and areolate derm. Saissetia coffeae differs by having ventral submarginal tubular duct with conspicuously expanded filament (S. neglecta and S. oleae have ventral submarginal tubular ducts with narrow filament).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 250 times at U. S. ports-of-entry on a variety of hosts between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Azores, Brazil, The British Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greece, Guam, Guatemala, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Laos, Mexico, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Peru, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidada and Tobago, The U.S. Virgin Islands and Vietnam. Saissetia coffeae is quite cosmopolitan and polyphagous; therefore we are not including older quarantine records. ScaleNet includes hosts on over 100 plant families from all zoogeographic regions. No species in the genus Saissetia other than S. coffeae, S. miranda (Cockerell & Parrott), S. neglecta De Lotto, and S. oleae oleae (Olivier) have been intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry.

Important references

Gill1988; Granar1999; HamonWi1984; Hodgso1994a; WilliaWa1990; Zimmer1948.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

Click here for a Catalog.