Planococcus ficus (Signoret)

MOGHADDAM, MASUMEH & WATSON, GILLIAN W., 2022, The Scale Insects Of Iran (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) Part 2 The Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae And Rhizoecidae) And Putoidae, Zootaxa 5126 (1), pp. 1-169 : 109-111

Planococcus ficus (Signoret)

( Fig. 48 , distribution map Fig. 69 K )

Dactylopius ficus Signoret, 1875a: 315 . Dactylopius subterraneus Hempel, 1901: 388 . Pseudococcus citrioides Ferris, 1922: 208 .

Field characteristics: Found on aerial plant parts, sometimes under bark flakes on grape vines. Body of adult female up to 4 mm long, yellow when newly moulted, peach-pink or yellowish or greenish pink when fully mature; coated with white powdery wax, usually without dorsal median longitudinal line of thinner dorsal wax. Body with 18 short white wax projections around margins, these longest at posterior end. At maturity, a white cottony mass of ovisac wax is produced at the posterior end and becomes filled with eggs; each egg approximately 0.3 mm long, oval, glossy and light yellow.

Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female oval. Antennae usually each with 8 segments. Legs well developed; hind leg with translucent pores present on coxa and tibia, and sometimes a few present distally on femur; tarsal digitules clubbed at tip and lonter than claw. Cerarii numbering 18 pairs; each cerarius containing 2 conical setae, these becoming progressively slenderer and the tips more flagellate towards anterior end of body. Circulus quadrate, divided by an intersegmental line. Ostioles well developed.

Dorsum with flagellate setae, the longest on abdominal segment VI or VII up to 50 µm long. Multilocular disc pores absent. Trilocular pores and minute discoidal pores scattered throughout. Oral collar tubular ducts occasionally present singly near to some cerarii.

Venter with flagellate setae, longer than dorsal setae. Cisanal setae shorter than anal ring setae. Multilocular disc pores each with 10 loculi, present in rows across abdominal segment IV and posterior segments. Trilocular pores and discoidal pores evenly distributed. Oral collar ducts of 2 sizes; larger ducts present on margins of abdominal segments; and smaller ducts present across abdominal segments, on medial and marginal areas of thorax, and sometimes on head.

Distribution: Planococcus ficus is known from 46 countries in the Afrotropical, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions ( García Morales et al. 2016) including Iran, where it has been recorded from Elborz, Fars, Gazvin, Gom, Khorasan -e Razavi, Khouzestan, Markazi and Tehran provinces ( Moghaddam 2013b).

Host-plants: The species has been found on host-plants in 30 genera belonging to 24 families ( García Morales et al. 2016). In Iran, it has been recorded on: Cactaceae : unidentifed succulent; Cucurbitaceae : Citrullus vulgaris ; Lythraceae : Punica granatum ; Moraceae : Ficus carica ; and Vitaceae : Vitis persica ( Moghaddam 2013b) .

Economic importance: Planococcus ficus is one of the most cosmopolitan mealybugs, damaging many outdoor crops in warm temperate and subtropical areas, and in greenhouses in cold temperate regions.

Natural enemies: In Iran, the following predators of P. ficus are known ( Fallahzadeh et al. 2009, 2011; Fallahzadeh & Japoshvili 2010): Exochomus quadripustulatus (L.), Hyperaspis polita Weise , Nephus bipunctatus (Kugelann) ( Coleoptera : Coccinellidae ); and Dicrodiplosis manihoti Harris ( Diptera : Cecidomyiidae ). Its Hymenoteran parasitoids include: Anagyrus agraensis Saraswat , A. dactylopii (Howard) , A. mirzai Agarwal & Alam , A. novickyi Hoffer , A. peudococci (Girault) , Leptomastidea abnormis (Girault) , Leptomastix dactylopii Howard , L. flava Mercet , and Prochiloneurus bolivari Mercet (Encyrtidae) ; Pachyneuron muscarum (Pteromalidae) ; and Chartocerus kurdjumovi (Nikolskaya) (Signiphoridae) .

Comments: The accompanying illustration is from Cox (1989), page 27, Fig. 11 , reproduced with the permission of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, U.K.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Adult female of Coccura circumscripta (Kiritshenko).

FIGURE 48. Adult female of Planococcus ficus (Signoret). © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum.

FIGURE 69. Maps of species distributions in Iran. A. Phenacoccus bromi Moghaddam; B. Phenacoccus daganiae Bodenheimer; C. Phenacoccus hordei (Lindeman); D. Phenacoccus insularis Danzig; E. Phenacoccus poae Moghaddam; F. Phenacoccus pumilus Kiritshenko; G. Phenacoccus solani Ferris; H. Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley; I. Phenacoccus transcaucasicus Hadzibejli; J. Planococcus citri (Risso); K. Planococcus ficus (Signoret); L. Planococcus kraunhiae (Kuwana).