Lepidosaphes beckii ( Newman, 1869 )

Mille, Christian, Henderson, Rosa C., Cazères, Sylvie & Jourdan, Hervé, 2016, Checklist of the scale insects (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccomorpha) of New Caledonia, Zoosystema 38 (2), pp. 129-176 : 141

Lepidosaphes beckii ( Newman, 1869)

Coccus beckii Newman, 1869: 217 .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — La Foa County ( IAC, SRFP), 4.VII.2000, on leaves of Citrus sp., S. Cazères coll., det. ( CXMNC); same loc., 18. VI.2002, on fruits of C. reticulata var. ponkan, S. Cazères coll., Rosa C. Henderson det. ( NZAC); same loc., 30.VII.2008, on fruits of C. sinensis, C. Mille coll.; Rosa C. Henderson det. ( NZAC).

PUBLISHED RECORDS IN NEW CALEDONIA. — Cohic (1956, 1958a).

DISTRIBUTION IN NEW CALEDONIA. — All over the New Caledonian Archipelago.

OTHER RECORDS. — Almost cosmopolitan.

HOST- PLANTS IN NEW CALEDONIA. — Citrus spp., Murraya spp. ( Cohic 1958a).

BIOLOGICAL AGENTS. — Aphytis cochereaui DeBach & Rosen 1976 ; A. lepidosaphes Compere, 1955 ; Encarsia lounsburyi (Berlese & Paoli, 1916) ( Hymenoptera : Aphelinidae ). Cohic (1956) noted that it can be parasitized by the entomopathogenic fungus Septobasidium bogoriense (Patouillard, 1899) (Fungi, Basidiomycota, Septobasidiaceae ).

NOTE. — According to Cohic (1958a): “This species is by far the most dangerous on Citrus spp. despite the parasitism of Aphitis chrysomphali and Aspidiophagus citrinus (now Encyrtus citrina )”.