Insignorthezia pseudinsignis (Morrison)

Family

Ortheziidae

Field characters

It is assumed that this species is virtually identical to I. insignis. Body oval or round, dark brown or dark green, legs reddish brown; white wax plates forming marginal and medial longitudinal lines leaving conspicuous bare areas in between; 10 marginal processes shortest on head, increasing in length posteriorly, resting on ovisac posteriorly; 10 or 11 medial plates, curved and arranged in 2 longitudinal lines. Ovisac produced from ventral abdomen carried by female, not attached to host, approximately twice as long as female, ribbed, curved upward. Immatures are same color as adult. Eggs are laid inside ovisac. Males rare or absent. Occurring primarily on the leaves and stems of host.

Validation characters

Head and thorax with broad transverse sclerotized plates; wax plates on dorsum arranged in small clusters forming 2 submedial lines of setae with clusters on margins encompassing most of body margin, large bare areas between submedial and marginal wax plates;. Other characters: Ovisac band wide, without rows of spines within ovisac band; antennae usually 8-segmented; 7 pairs of abdominal spiracles.

Comparison

Insignorthezia pseudinsignis is similar to I. insignis by having similar arrangements of wax plates, wide ovisac band, no rows of spines encompassed by ovisac band, 7 pairs of spiracular setae. Insignorthezia pseudinsignis differs by having broad transverse sclerotized plates on head and thorax (I. insignis has narrow sclerotized area).

U.S. quarantine notes

This species was intercepted 29 times at U. S. ports-of-entry between 1995 and 2012, with specimens originating from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. We have examined specimens taken in quarantine from El Salvador (Fernaldia); Guatemala (Citrus, Solanum); Mexico (Capsicum, Citrus, Coleus, Gardenia, Ixora, Juglans, Mentha, Mirabilis, Ocimum, orchid, Pelargonium, Punica, Prunus, Ruta, Thymus, Tillandsia). ScaleNet includes hosts in Rubiaceae, Solanaceae, and Verbenaceae; it occurs in the Nearctic and Neotropical zoogeographic regions. One species of Insignorthezia other than I. insignis (Browne) and I. pseudinsignis has been intercepted at a U. S. port-of-entry, I. cacticola (Morrison) (Mexico, on cactus).

Important references

Beingo1969; Kozar2004; Morris1952.

Scalenet catalog and citation list

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