Conchaspis orchidarum Mamet

Family

Conchaspididae

Field characters

Scale cover almost circular, white, translucent, with 6 to 8 ridges radiating from central cone, margin flattened, without exuviae; volcano shaped in lateral view. On leaves of host.

Validation characters

Antennae 4-segmented; multilocular pores absent from thorax, and from abdominal segments 2 and 3, present in rows from submarginal areas to submedial areas; without tubular ducts on thorax, present on abdomen. Other characters: Legs reduced, tibia and tarsus fused, trochanter and femur fused; metasternal sclerotization present; ocellar spot present; pygidium present.

Comparison

Conchaspis orchidarum is similar to C. cordiae Mamet by lacking multilocular pores on abdominal segment 3, by having 4-segmented antennae, and by having tubular ducts. Conchaspis orchidarum differs by lacking tubular ducts on thorax (present on metathorax on C. cordiae) and by having tubular ducts on segment 5 (absent from segment 5 on C. cordiae).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was not intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry between between 1995 and 2012, but it had been intercepted before that. We have examined specimens taken in quarantine from Colombia, (Oncidium); Costa Rica (orchid); Panama (Brassavola, Epidendrum, Lockhartia, Oncidium, Pleurothallis ). ScaleNet includes hosts in 3 genera in the Orchidaceae from the Neotropical region. Three species of Conchaspis other than C. angraeci Cockerell, C. capensis (Linnaeus) and C. orchidarum have been intercepted at a U. S. port-of-entry: C. cordiae Mamet (Puerto Rico, on Rauwolfia; Haiti, on unknown host); C. newsteadi Cockerell (Mexico, on Acer and Plumeria); and C. phylicae Mamet (South Africa, on Phylica).

Important references

Mamet1954b

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