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Species Ceroplastes rubens Maskell, 1893

Pink Wax Scale, Red Wax Scale

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia


Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

Sap-feeder.

 

ID Keys

(Tang, F.T., 1991) [297] (female; China); (Williams, D.J. & Watson, G.W., 1990) [65] (female; tropical South Pacific); (Hamon, A.B. & Williams, M.L., 1984) [18] (female; USA, Florida); (Tao, C.C.C., Wong, C.Y. & Chang, Y.C., 1983) [93] (female; Taiwan); (Kawai, S., 1980) [166] (female; Japan); (Gimpel, W.F., Miller, D.R. & Davidson, J.A., 1974) [19] (female; USA); (Beardsley, J.W., 1966) [480] (female; Micronesia); (Borchsenius, N.S., 1957) [451] (female; Palaearctic Region); (Green, E.E., 1909) [273-274] (female; Ceylon)

 

BIOLOGY

Life history in Japan studied by Kuwana, S.I. 1923. The Chinese white-wax scale, Ericerus pela Chavannes. Philippine Journal of Science 22: 393–406 and Kuwana, S.I. 1923. On the genus Leucaspis in Japan. Dobutsugako Zasshi, Tokyo (Journal of the Zoological Society of Japan) 35: 321–324. Smith, D., Beattie, G.A.C. & Broadley, R.H. 1997. Citrus Pests and their Natural Enemies: Integrated Pest Management in Australia. Brisbane, Australia : State of Queensland, Department of Primary Industries, and Horticultural Research and Development Corp. 263 pp. reported two generations per year in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia. Tanaka, M. 1953. [The settlement of the red scale and the horned wax scale on potato tubers. 1. The study of mass production of the important Hymenopterous parasite (Anicetus ceroplastis Ishii).]. Bulletin of the Kyushu Agricultural Experiment Station 2: 55–63 evaluated the suitability of 15 cultivars of potatoes for laboratory rearing of this wax scale. Ohgushi, R. & Nishino, T. 1975. Comparative studies on the population dynamics of wax scales belonging to the genus Ceroplastes. 1. Survivorship curves and life tables. Annual Report, Botanic Garden, Faculty of Science, University of Kanazawa, Japan 7–8: 1–21 studied the life tables in Japan. Mitsuhashi, J., Yamasaki, T., Narahashi, T. & Fukami, J.I. 1956. [On the method of distinguishing between dead and living Ruby Scale.]. Oyo-Kontyu, Tokyo 12: 162–170 described several methods for distinguishing between dead and live scale after treatment with hydrogen cyanide. Biology and pest status on coffee presented by Le Pelley, R.H. 1968. In: Pests of Coffee. London : Longmans 588 pp.. Loch, A.D. & Zalucki, M.P. 1996. Spatial distribution of pink wax scale, Ceroplastes rubens Maskell (Hemiptera: Coccidae), on umbrella trees in south-eastern Queensland: the pattern of outbreaks. Australian Journal of Zoology 44: 599–609, Loch, A.D. & Zalucki, M.P. 1997. Variation in length, fecundity and survival of pink wax scale, Ceroplastes rubens Maskell (Hemiptera: Coccidae), on umbrella trees. Australian Journal of Zoology 45: 399–407 and Loch, A.D. & Zalucki, M.P. 1998. Outbreaks of pink wax scale, Ceroplastes rubens Maskell (Hemiptera: Coccidae), on umbrella trees in south-eastern Queensland: Patterns of parasitisation. Australian Journal of Entomology 37(4): 328–334 studied various aspects of the outbreaks on umbrella trees, Schefflera actinophylla in south-eastern Queensland, Australia.

SYSTEMATICS

Ben-Dov, Y., Matile-Ferrero, D. & Gafny, R. 2000. Taxonomy of Ceroplastes rubens Maskell with description of a related new species (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) from Reunion, including DNA polymorphism analysis. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 36(4): 423–433 revised and evaluated earlier taxonomic descriptions of the adult female and provided an updated taxonomic description.

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., Gimpel, W.F., Miller, D.R. & Davidson, J.A. 1974. A systematic revision of the wax scales, genus Ceroplastes, in the United States (Homoptera; Coccoidea; Coccidae). University of Maryland, Agricultural Experiment Station, Miscellaneous Publication 841: 1–85, 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. and by 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., Tang, F.T. 1991. [The Coccidae of China]. Taiyuan, P. R. China : Shanxi United Universities Press and by Ben-Dov, Y. & Marotta, S. 2001. Stabilizing the name Aspidiotus nerii Bouché, 1833 (Hem., Coccoidea, Diaspididae). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 106(2): 181–191.

STRUCTURE

See colour photograph in Kawai, S. 1980. Scale insects of Japan in colors. Tokyo : National Agricultural Education Association 455 pp. [fig. 6.59], 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., 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..

ECONOMIC AND CONTROL

A major pest of citrus in Australia (see Sabine, B.N.E. 1969. Insecticidal control of citrus pests in coastal central Queensland. Queensland Journal of Agricultural Science 26: 83–88), Hawaii and Japan (see Ebeling, W. 1959. Subtropical fruit pests. Los Angeles : Division of Agricultural Sciences, Univ. of Calif. 436 pp.). Gimpel, W.F., Miller, D.R. & Davidson, J.A. 1974. A systematic revision of the wax scales, genus Ceroplastes, in the United States (Homoptera; Coccoidea; Coccidae). University of Maryland, Agricultural Experiment Station, Miscellaneous Publication 841: 1–85. Loch, A.D. & Zalucki, M.P. 1996. Spatial distribution of pink wax scale, Ceroplastes rubens Maskell (Hemiptera: Coccidae), on umbrella trees in south-eastern Queensland: the pattern of outbreaks. Australian Journal of Zoology 44: 599–609; Loch, A.D. & Zalucki, M.P. 1997. Variation in length, fecundity and survival of pink wax scale, Ceroplastes rubens Maskell (Hemiptera: Coccidae), on umbrella trees. Australian Journal of Zoology 45: 399–407; and Loch, A.D. & Zalucki, M.P. 1998. Outbreaks of pink wax scale, Ceroplastes rubens Maskell (Hemiptera: Coccidae), on umbrella trees in south-eastern Queensland: Patterns of parasitisation. Australian Journal of Entomology 37(4): 328–334 studied various aspects of the outbreaks on the umbrella tree, Schefflera actinophylla in south-eastern Queensland, Australia.

 

General References

Green, E.E. 1900. Remarks on Indian scale insects (Coccidae), with descriptions of new species. Indian Museum Notes 5: 1-13 [8] (Ceroplastes myricae: misidentification)

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
05-Jun-2024 COCCOIDEA 14-Feb-2024 MODIFIED Dr Vivian Sandoval (ABRS)
21-Nov-2012 08-Dec-2014 MODIFIED
29-Jun-2012 29-Jun-2012 MODIFIED
12-Feb-2010 (import)