Species: Phenacoccus franseriae Ferris - Catalog
or Close Window
if opened from the key.
Common name: Franseria mealybug

Field Characters: Body oval; somewhat flattened dorsoventally; body green; legs red; covered by thin, white, mealy wax, probably with dark submedial bare spots on intersegmental areas of thorax and abdomen on dorsum, these areas forming 1 pair of dark longitudinal lines on dorsum; dorsal ovisac covering entire dorsum; with 18 pairs of lateral wax filaments, posterior pairs longest about 1/4 or less of length of the body. Primarily occurring on foliage of host. Specimens in alcohol with 1 pair of dorsosubmedial dark lines on thorax and abdomen. Surface of lateral filaments rough.

Click on images for more details
Habitus photo
when available 		thumbnail image of Phenacoccus franseriae jpg image of Phenacoccus franseriae drawing
Validation characters: Dorsomedial cerarii on midline of abdominal segments VI and VII; multilocular pores on dorsum of abdomen, absent from thorax and head; dorsal oral-collar tubular ducts scattered over surface; quinquelocular pores abundant on ventral surface; 18 pairs of cerarii; denticle on claw; antennae 9-segmented.

Comparison: Phenacoccus franseriae is very similar to P. gossypii Townsend and Cockerell and P. madeirensis by having dorsal multilocular pores and oral-collar tubular ducts; cerarii on medial or mediolateral areas of dorsum; numerous quinquelocular pores; mushroom-shaped circulus. Phenacoccus franseriae differs by having dorsomedial cerarii on abdominal segments VI and VII whereas P. gossypii and P. madeirensis lack cerarii in this area but have them on the anterior abdominal segments and on the thorax and head. Phenacoccus franseriae differs from P. gossypii by lacking dorsal multilocular disk pores on the thorax whereas these are present on P. gossypii.

U.S. quarantine notes: This species has only recently been taken in quarantine. It is intercepted from Mexico, usually on herbs. Several species of Phenacoccus other than P. franseriae, P. gossypii, P. madeirensis, P. parvus, P. solani, and P. solenopsis have been taken at US ports-of-entry including: P. avenae Borchsenius (Turkey on bulbs), P. azaleae Kuwana (Japan on azalea), P. manihoti Matile-Ferrero (Central Africa and South America on Manihot), and P. pergandei Cockerell (Japan and Korea on Diospyros, Magnolia, Malus, Prunus, Punica, and Rhododendron).

References: Ferris1950b; WilliaGr1992.

All references mentioning: Phenacoccus franseriae - None

Return to Find Image Page! or Return to Species List Page!