Species Coccus hesperidum Linnaeus, 1758

Museums

Regional Maps

Ecological Descriptors

Sap-feeder.

ID Keys

(Hodgson, C.J. & Henderson, R.C., 2000) [195] (female; New Zealand); (Kosztarab, M., 1996) [337] (female; northeastern North America); (Kosztarab, M., 1996) [337] (female; northeastern North America); (Tang, F.T., 1991) [77] (female; China); (Williams, D.J. & Watson, G.W., 1990) [82] (female; tropical South Pacific); (Gill, R.J., 1988) [26] (female; USA, California); (Hamon, A.B. & Williams, M.L., 1984) [38] (female; USA, Florida); (Tao, C.C.C., Wong, C.Y. & Chang, Y.C., 1983) [63] (female; Taiwan); (Kawai, S., 1980) [141-142] (female; Japan); (Ezzat, Y.M. & Hussein, N.A., 1969) [372] (female; Egypt); (Beardsley, J.W., 1966) [483] (female; Micronesia); (Borchsenius, N.S., 1957) [294] (female; Palaearctic Region); (Zimmerman, E.C., 1948) [294] (female; Hawaii)

GENERAL

Description and illustration of adult female by Zimmerman, E.C. 1948. Homoptera: Sternorrhyncha. pp. 268 in Zimmerman, E.C. (ed). Insects of Hawaii. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press Vol. 5 464 pp., De Lotto, G. 1959. Further notes on Ethiopian species of the genus Coccus (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa 22: 150–173; De Lotto, G. 1965. The nomenclature status of the common long tailed mealy bug (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae). Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa 27: 226–229, Hodgson, C.J. 1967. Notes on Rhodesian Coccidae (Homoptera: Coccoidea): Part 1: The genera Coccus, Parasaissetia, Saissetia and a new genus Mashona. Arnoldia (Rhodesia) 3: 1–22; Hodgson, C.J. 1994. The scale insect family Coccidae: an identification manual to genera. Wallingford, Oxon, UK : CAB International Institute of Entomology 639 pp., Ezzat, Y.M. & Hussein, N.A. 1969. Redescription and classification of the family Coccidae in U.A.R. (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique d'Egypte 51: 359–426, Williams, M.L. & Kosztarab, M. 1972. Morphology and systematics of the Coccidae of Virginia with notes on their biology (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Research Division Bulletin Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg 74: 1–215, Gill, R.J., Nakahara, S. & Williams, M.L. 1977. A review of the genus Coccus Linnaeus in America north of Panama (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). Occasional Papers in Entomology, State of California, Department of Food and Agriculture 24: 44, Tao, C.C.C., Wong, C.Y. & Chang, Y.C. 1983. Monograph of Coccidae of Taiwan, Republic of China (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Journal of Taiwan Museum 36: 57–107, Hamon, A.B. & Williams, M.L. 1984. The soft scale insects of Florida (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). In, Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Land Areas. Gainesville : Fla. Dept. of Agric. & Consumer Serv. Div. Plant Ind. 194 pp., Gill, R.J. 1988. The Scale Insects of California: Part 1. The Soft Scales (Homoptera : Coccoidea : Coccidae). Sacramento, California : California Dept of Food & Agriculture 132 pp., Williams, D.J. & Watson, G.W. 1990. The Scale Insects of the Tropical South Pacific Region. Pt. 3: The soft scales (Coccidae) and other families. London : CAB International Institute of Entomology 267 pp., Kosztarab, M. 1996. Scale insects of Northeastern North America. Identification, biology, and distribution. Martinsburg, Virginia : Virginia Museum of Natural History 650 pp., Granara de Willink, M.C. 1999. [Soft scale insects of Argentina (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae)] Las cochinillas blandas de la República Argentina (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). Contributions on Entomology, International 3(1): 1–183, Hodgson, C.J. & Henderson, R.C. 2000. Coccidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Coccoidea). Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand : Manaaki Whenua Press 259 pp. and by Lagowska, B. 2001. Morphological variation in adult female Coccus hesperidum L. (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) in Poland. Entomologica 33[1999]: 105–112. Description of adult female and first-instar nymph by Borchsenius, N.S. 1957. Subtribe mealybugs and scales (Coccoidea). Soft scale insects Coccidae. Vol. IX. Fauna SSSR. Zoologicheskii Institut Akademii Nauk SSSR ns 66: 1–493.

BIOLOGY

Females were reported to reproduce parthenogenetically in most areas. Males were not observed in California, Israel, South Africa. However, males reported to belong to this species were observed in England (see Newstead, R. 1917. Observations on scale-insects (Coccidae) – III. Bulletin of Entomological Research 7: 343–380) and in greenhouse population in USSR (see Saakyan-Baranova, A.A. 1964. On the biology of the soft scale Coccus hesperidum L. (Homoptera, Coccoidea). Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 43: 268–296. Develops six annual generations in Israel, (see Bodenheimer, F.S. 1951. Citrus entomology in the Middle East with special reference to Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Turkey. The Hague : W. Junk 663 pp.; Avidov, Z. & Harpaz, I. 1969. Plant Pests of Israel. Jerusalem : Israel Universities Press 549 pp.); 3–5 generations in USA, southern California (see Ebeling, W. 1959. Subtropical fruit pests. Los Angeles : Division of Agricultural Sciences, Univ. of Calif. 436 pp.). Life history in Spain described by Llorens Climent, J.M. 1984. Las cochinillas de los agrios. Valencia, Spain : Servicio de Protecciön de los Vegetales 159 pp.. Annecke, D.P. 1966. Biological studies on the immature stages of soft brown scale, Coccus hesperidum (Homoptera: Coccidae). South African Journal of Agricultural Science 9: 205–228 reported that the female moults only twice before maturity. However, this might be an erroneous observation, because females in other species of Coccus as well as in most other genera develop through three larval instars. Hart, W.G. & Ingle, S. 1971. Increases in fecundity of brown soft scale exposed to Methyl Parathion. Journal of Economic Entomology 63: 204–208 observed increased fecundity after exposure to Methyl Parathion. Encapsulation of parasitoid eggs was studied by Blumberg, D. 1977. Encapsulation of parasitoid eggs in soft scales (Homoptera: Coccidae). Ecological Entomology 2: 185–192 and Blumberg, D. & DeBach, P. 1981. Effects of temperature and host age upon the encapsulation of Metaphycus stanleyi and Metaphycus helvolus eggs by Brown Soft Scale Coccus hesperidum. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 37: 73–79. The encapsulation of eggs of Encyrtus infelix (Embleton) and of E. lecaniorum (Mayr) was determined by Blumberg, D. & Goldenberg, S. 1992. Encapsulation of eggs of two species of Encyrtus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) by soft scales (Homoptera: Coccidae) in six parasitoid-host interactions. Israel Journal of Entomology 25–26: 57–65.

SYSTEMATICS

The taxonomy of this species has been refined and, more or less, stabilized only since the studies of De Lotto, G. 1959. Further notes on Ethiopian species of the genus Coccus (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa 22: 150–173 and De Lotto, G. 1965. The nomenclature status of the common long tailed mealy bug (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae). Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa 27: 226–229. Therefore, most earlier descriptions and illustrations are inadequate for a good definition of C. hesperidum. Ben-Dov, Y. 1993. A systematic catalogue of the soft scale insects of the world (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) with data on geographical distribution, host plants, biology and economic importance. Flora & Fauna Handbook, No. 9. Gainesville, FL : Sandhill Crane Press 536 pp. erroneously indicated that type material of Coccus patellaeformis Curtis, 1843 was lost. However, Ken Walker (Department of Entomology, Museum of Victoria, Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia) in personal communication (May 2002) to Yair Ben-Dov, informed that the types are deposited in the Victoria Museum. Hodgson, C.J. 1967. Notes on Rhodesian Coccidae (Homoptera: Coccoidea): Part 1: The genera Coccus, Parasaissetia, Saissetia and a new genus Mashona. Arnoldia (Rhodesia) 3: 1–22 and Gill, R.J., Nakahara, S. & Williams, M.L. 1977. A review of the genus Coccus Linnaeus in America north of Panama (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). Occasional Papers in Entomology, State of California, Department of Food and Agriculture 24: 44 found considerable morphological variation in some distinctive features, such as the ventral tubular ducts and the dorsal submarginal tubular ducts. Giliomee, J.H. 1967. Morphology and taxonomy of adult males of the family Coccidae (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology, Supplement 7: 1–168 described and illustrated the adult male, based on material collected in St. Petersburg [=Leningrad], Russia from Laurus nobilis and from "citrus". The redescription and illustration of the female, named Calymnatus hesperidum by Valemberg, J. 1980. Observations sur Calymnatus hesperidum L. (=Lecanium hesperidum) (Hemipteres Coccidae). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique du Nord de la France 216: 5–8, appears to be a misidentification of a Coccus sp., which is different from C. hesperidum. Blair, C.A., Blackith, R.E. & Boratynski, K. 1964. Variation in Coccus hesperidum L. (Homoptera: Coccidae). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 39: 129–134 analyzed the intraspecific variation of 18 characters of the adult female.

ECONOMIC AND CONTROL

The brown soft scale is one of the highly polyphagous and most widely distributed soft scale species. It is regarded a citrus pest in several countries over different Regions (see Talhouk, A.M.S. 1975. Citrus pests throughout the world. Ciba-Geigy Agrochemicals, Technical Monograph 4: 21–23; Bartlett, B.R. 1978. Coccidae. In, Clausen, C.P. (ed). Introduced Parasites and Predators of Arthropod Pests and Weeds: A World Review. Washington, D.C. : Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture 545 pp.). An important pest of various fruit trees, ornamentals and in green houses (see Ebeling, W. 1959. Subtropical fruit pests. Los Angeles : Division of Agricultural Sciences, Univ. of Calif. 436 pp.). Lagowska, B. 1995. The biological control perspective of scale insects (Homoptera, Coccinea) on ornamental plants in glasshouses. Wiadomosci Entomologiczne 14: 5–10 reviewed the prospects of biological control in greenhouses.

STRUCTURE

The adult female is oval, flat or slightly convex. Young adult yellowish-green to yellowish-brown, flecked with brown spots, which occasionally coalesce into mottled areas. The crawlers are produced by the female into a chamber beneath the ventral derm. See colour photograph in Kawai, S. 1980. Scale insects of Japan in colors. Tokyo : National Agricultural Education Association 455 pp. [figs 6.9 a, b], Hamon, A.B. & Williams, M.L. 1984. The soft scale insects of Florida (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). In, Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Land Areas. Gainesville : Fla. Dept. of Agric. & Consumer Serv. Div. Plant Ind. 194 pp., Gill, R.J. 1988. The Scale Insects of California: Part 1. The Soft Scales (Homoptera : Coccoidea : Coccidae). Sacramento, California : California Dept of Food & Agriculture 132 pp., Katsoyannos, P. 1996. Integrated insect pest management for citrus in Northern Mediterranean countries. Athens, Greece : Benaki Phytopathologique Institute. 110 pp., Wong, C.Y., Chen, S.P. & Chou, L.Y. 1999. [Guidebook to Scale Insects of Taiwan.]. Wufeng, Taichung, Taiwan : Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute 98 pp., and Hodgson, C.J. & Henderson, R.C. 2000. Coccidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Coccoidea). Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand : Manaaki Whenua Press 259 pp.. Intraspecific variation of taxonomic characters in adult female studied by Lagowska, B. 2001. Morphological variation in adult female Coccus hesperidum L. (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) in Poland. Entomologica 33[1999]: 105–112.

General References

Chou, I. 1947. The scale insects of citrus and their cyanide fumigation. Entomologia Sinica. Shensi 2: 25-39 [30, 39] (Coccus hisperidum: misspelling of species name)

Fernald, M.E. 1903. A catalogue of the Coccidae of the world. Bulletin of the Hatch Experiment Station of the Massachusetts Agricultural College 88: 1-360 [169] (Coccus patelliformis: misspelling of species name)

Fernald, M.E. 1903. Notes on the Coccidae. The Canadian Entomologist 35: 22 [169] (Chermes aurantii: misspelling of genus and species names: misspelling of Kermes aurantj Alfonso)

Gómez-Menor Ortega, J. 1929. Idea de la biología de las cochinillas. Revista de Agricultura (Republica Dominicana) 20: 4-5 [4] (Lecanium esperidum: misspelling of species name)

Common Name References

Gill, R.J., Nakahara, S. & Williams, M.L. 1977. A review of the genus Coccus Linnaeus in America north of Panama (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae). Occasional Papers in Entomology, State of California, Department of Food and Agriculture 24: 44 (Cited also by and < BenDov1993>) (Brown Soft Scale)

Llorens Climent, J.M. 1990. [Scale insects and their biological control.] Homoptera I, Cocchinillas de los cítricos y su control biológico. Alicante, Spain : Pisa Ediciones 260 pp. (Cochinilla Blanda De Los Agrios)

Naumann, I.D., Ingram, R.J. & Floyd, R. 2002. Australian Insect Common Names, based on CSIRO Handbook of Australian Insect Names. 6th edn 1993. http://www.ento.csiro.au/aicn/. (Soft Brown Scale)

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