Annonaceae

Kondo, Takumasa, 2011, Transfer of the myrmecophilous soft scale insect Neolecanium amazonensis Foldi to Foldilecanium gen. nov. (Hemiptera: Coccidae), with description of a new species from Colombia., Insecta Mundi 2011 (167), pp. 1-10 : 9

Hosts. Annonaceae : Cananga odorata (Lam.) Hook. f. and Thomson.

Notes. The cananga tree, Cananga odorata is common throughout Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, throughout its native Indo-Malayan region, and is currently distributed pantropically ( Manner and Elevitch 2006). Foldilecanium is likely endemic to the New World, thus C. odorata is probably not the original host of F. multisetosus .

The flaky wax covering the dorsum of F. multisetosus was observed on a single specimen found under an ant carton. Most specimens lack this flaky wax, possibly because the ants remove it either accidentally while tending the soft scales for their honeydew, or purposely to use it as part of the building material for their carton shelters.

Foldi (1988) described the adult female of F. amazonensis as having pronounced reddish-brown rolled margins (“brun-rougeâtre à bourrelet dorso-marginal prononcé”), probably describing the same type of margins observed on old adult females of F. multisetosus (see Fig. 2B ).

Figures

Figure 2. Foldilecanium multisetosus Kondo. A) Colony of various growth stages, with adult females in center of photo. Inset photo showing an adult female with flaky, glassy wax cover. B) Colony of older and heavily sclerotized adult females being tended by Azteca sp. ants. All photos taken after removal of ant cartons.