Species: Ferrisia Virgata (Cockerell) - Catalog

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Common name: Striped mealybug Field Characters: Body elongate oval; body dark gray; legs dark brown; covered by white mealy wax, with 2 submedial longitudinal bare areas on dorsum; dorsal ovisac absent, a few filamentous strands on venter, forming a pad; with 1 pair of conspicuous lateral wax filaments, about 1/2 as long as body. Occurring on all parts of plant, usually in protected area. Usually ovoviviparous. With numerous thin crystalline rods protruding from dorsum.
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Validation characters: Setae associated with ferrisia-like tubular ducts incorporated in rim; ventral multiloculars present on posterior 3 abdominal segments, with more than 8 multilocular pores on segment VI; ferrisia-like rim around large tubular ducts;1 pair of cerarii. Comparison: Ferrisia virgata is most similar to F. malvastra and can be distinguished by the presence of ventral multilocular pores on segment VI (with 8 or more) and by having a large rim around the ferrisia-like tubular ducts that incorporates the associated setae. Ferrisia malvastra normally lacks ventral multilocular pores on segment VI but rarely has up to 5 and has a smaller rim around the ferrisia-like tubular ducts that does not incorporate the associated setae. U.S. quarantine notes: This species is taken on a broad diversity of host plants (at least 68 plant families) and is found in nearly every warm area of the world in all zoogeographic areas. Only F. malvastra and F. virgata have been intercepted at US ports-of-entry. References: WilliaWa1988a; WilliaGr1992; Willia2004. All references mentioning: Ferrisia virgata
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