Ferrisia virgata ( Cockerell, 1893 )

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 : 149

Ferrisia virgata ( Cockerell, 1893)

Dactylopius virgata Cockerell, 1893: 178 .

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

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

OTHER RECORDS. — Almost cosmopolitan.

HOST- PLANTS IN NEW CALEDONIA. — Acalypha spp., Annona spp., Ceiba pentandra , Citrus spp., Codiaeum variegatum , Coffea arabica , Euphorbia pulcherrima , Gossypium spp., Lantana camara , Leuceana leucocephala ( Cohic 1958a) , also found recently on Carica papaya , Mangifera indica , Psidium guajava ( Mille 2011) .

NOTES. — Kaydan & Gullan (2012) recently revised the genus Ferrisia Fullaway, 1923 and showed that F. virgata as previously understood was a complex of related species. It is therefore difficult to fully assess the identity of past records (one or more species) for New Caledonia. Regarding the distribution recorded by Kaydan & Gullan (2012), it is reasonable to estimate that F. virgata is present. Some Ferrisia sp. specimens have been recently discovered in the Chesterfield Islands on Boerhavia diffusa and Heliotropium foertherianum ( Jourdan & Bourguet 2013) . Risbec (1942) considered this species as a very dangerous one, though Cohic (1958a) noted that it was a common species but not harmful. Today, we consider it as an uncommon species on Grande Terre and hence an unimportant pest.