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Species Saissetia coffeae (Walker, 1852)

Coffee Root Mealybug, Hemispherical Scale

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia


Ecological Descriptors

Sap-feeder.

 

ID Keys

(Hodgson, C.J. & Henderson, R.C., 2000) [195] (female; New Zealand); (Granara de Willink, M.C., 1999) [157] (female; Argentina); (Tang, F.T., 1991) [215] (female; China); (Williams, D.J. & Watson, G.W., 1990) [160] (female; tropical South Pacific); (Gill, R.J., 1988) [103] (female; USA, California); (Hamon, A.B. & Williams, M.L., 1984) [106] (female; USA, Florida); (Tao, C.C.C., Wong, C.Y. & Chang, Y.C., 1983) [72] (female; Taiwan); (Kawai, S., 1980) [157] (female; Japan); (Ezzat, Y.M. & Hussein, N.A., 1969) [374] (female; Egypt); (Beardsley, J.W., 1966) [494] (female; Micronesia); (Borchsenius, N.S., 1957) [332] (female; Palaearctic Region); (Zimmerman, E.C., 1948) [320] (female; Hawaii)

 

STRUCTURE

See colour photograph in Kawai, S. 1980. Scale insects of Japan in colors. Tokyo : National Agricultural Education Association 455 pp. [fig. 6.43), 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., Carvalho, J.P. & Aguiar, A.M.F. 1997. [Citrus pests in the Island of Madeira] Pragas dos citrinos na Ilha da Madeira. Madeira : Secretaria Regional de Agricultura, Florestas e Pescs 411 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..

ECONOMIC AND CONTROL

A pest of ornamental plants, especially of cycads.

GENERAL

Good 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., 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, 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., Tang, F.T. 1991. [The Coccidae of China]. Taiyuan, P. R. China : Shanxi United Universities Press, Hodgson, C.J. 1994. The scale insect family Coccidae: an identification manual to genera. Wallingford, Oxon, UK : CAB International Institute of Entomology 639 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 and by Hodgson, C.J. & Henderson, R.C. 2000. Coccidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Coccoidea). Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand : Manaaki Whenua Press 259 pp..

BIOLOGY

Females reproduce parthenogenetically. Develops up to eight generations per year in Peru (Beingolea, G.O. 1969. Notas sobre la biología de Saissetia coffeae (Walk.) (Hom.: Coccidae) en laboratorio y en el campo. Revista Peruana de Entomología 12: 137–145), several overlapping generations in Cuba (Alayo Soto, R. & Blahutiak, A. 1980. [Seasonal dynamic of Saissetia hemisphaerica Targioni (Homoptera: Coccoidea) in Cuba.] Dinámica estacional de Saissetia hemisphaerica Targioni (Homoptera: Coccoidea) en Cuba. Poeyana (Instituto de Zoologia, Academia de Ciencias de Cuba) 210: 1–16), one or two generations in Florida, USA (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 two or more in California, USA (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.). Six generations per year on potato sprouts, under laboratory conditions (see Blumberg, D. & Swirski, E. 1977. Mass breeding of two species of Saissetia (Hom.: Coccidae) for propagation of their parasitoids. Entomophaga 22: 147–150). Blumberg, D. 1977. Encapsulation of parasitoid eggs in soft scales (Homoptera: Coccidae). Ecological Entomology 2: 185–192, Blumberg, D. 1988. Encapsulation of eggs of the encyrtid wasp, Metaphycus swirskii, by the hemispherical scale, Saissetia coffeae: Effect of host age and rearing temperature. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 47: 95–99, 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 studied the encapsulation of parasitoid eggs. Stylet penetration described by Ramanarayan, E.P., Chacko, M.J. & Ramachandran, M. 1980. Studies on stylet penetration in Saissetia coffeae. Journal of Coffee Research 10: 71–74.

 

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 25-Mar-2024 MODIFIED Dr Vivian Sandoval (ABRS)
21-Nov-2012 01-May-2014 MODIFIED
29-Jun-2012 29-Jun-2012 MODIFIED
12-Feb-2010 (import)