Species Icerya purchasi - Cottony Cushion Scale

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Range · Food · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

Cottony Cushion Scale? - Icerya purchasi

Unknown insect In Southern Californa - Icerya purchasi

tiny insects? on scales - Icerya purchasi

cottony cushion scale (Icerya purchasi) - Icerya purchasi

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)

Suborder Sternorrhyncha (Plant-parasitic Hemipterans)

Superfamily Coccoidea (Scales and Mealybugs)

Family Monophlebidae (Giant Scale Insects)

Genus Icerya

Species purchasi (Cottony Cushion Scale)

Other Common Names

Fluted Scale, Australian Bug, Australian Mealybug

Explanation of Names

Icerya purchasi Maskell 1878

Range

s US and up the Atlantic seaboard - Map (1); native to Australia

Food

Hosts include many plants, though in FL Citrus and Pittosporum (Pittosporaceae) are most commonly affected - UF

Remarks

The white fluted part of the insect is an egg sac that can contain up to 1000 eggs. The insect is hermaphroditic, producing sperm that can fertilize its own ova, but in an alternate reproductive strategy it can also make winged males that can fertilize the female part of other individuals.

When it first appeared in the w. US it was a major pest of Citrus crops. In CA, around 1889, it was an early success story for biological control by beneficial ladybird beetles (Rodolia cardinalis). (Full story) The control was so successful that in 1893 a Florida nurseryman asked for some of the beneficials to be sent to FL, to test as a control for other scale insects. The scale was included in the shipment as food for the beetles, and thus accidentally introduced to FL citrus.

Internet References

Featured Creatures - Hamon & Fasulo 2005

Works Cited

1.	Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

Contributed by Hannah Nendick-Mason on 11 August, 2004 - 9:22pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 25 May, 2022 - 10:15am

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