Valid Names Results

Didesmococcus unifasciatus (Archangelskaya, 1923) (Coccidae: Didesmococcus)

Nomenclatural History

• Physokermes unifasciatus Archangelskaya 1923: 265. Type data: UZBEKISTAN: Samarkand, on Persica sp.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: St. Petersburg: Zoological Museum, Academy of Science, Russia; accepted valid name
• Physokermes (Eulecanium) unifasciatus; Archangelskaya 1931: 79. subsequent use
• Sphaerolecanium unifasciatus (Archangelskaya, 1923); Kiritshenko 1936: 70. change of combination
• Lecanium unifsciatus (Archangelskaya, 1923); Borchsenius 1937: 85. change of combination
• Eriochiton amygdalae Rao 1939: 59. Type data: PAKISTAN: Baluchistan, Loralai, on almond tree.. Holotype, female, Type depository: St. Petersburg: Zoological Museum, Academy of Science, Russia; junior synonym (discovered by Tang1991, 102).
• Eulecanium unifasciatus (Archangelskaya, 1923); Borchsenius 1949c: 172. Type depository: Shanxi: Entomological Institute, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi, China; change of combination
• Didesmococcus unifasciatus (Archangelskaya, 1923); Borchsenius 1953: 282. change of combination
• Didesmococcus megriensis Borchsenius 1953: 282. Type data: USSR: Armenia, Megri, on Persica vulgaris, Amygdalus communis, Armeniaca sp. and Prunus sp.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: St. Petersburg: Zoological Museum, Academy of Science, Russia; junior synonym (discovered by Danzig1970, 1017).

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 3 | Genera: 6

Foes:

Families: 5 | Genera: 10

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• Tang1991: pp.101 ( Adult (F) ) [China]
• Borchs1957: pp.311 ( Adult (F) ) [Palaearctic region ]

Remarks

• Structure: The females are large and globular, dark red in color with a red horizontal band about 0.8 mm wide. This band lies over the anterior abdominal terga of the animal. The colour of the body is wine red, except for the terga which has a lighter colour throughout the preoviposition phase. Adult females have eight antennal segments. (EFSAi, 2023)
• Biology: It completes one generation per year in Lebanon; adults of both sexes appear and mate during April. Fertilised females double their size between the end of April, when copulation occurs and the oviposition period in mid-June. A female lays between 1,500 and 2,400 eggs in 3 to 5 days, and egg hatching occurs 4 to 5 days later. The female passes through three nymphal instars and the male through four instars. The emerging crawlers feed for several weeks and enter a summer diapause. They may settle under empty male tests (waxy covers that protect the pupal stage) or any other cover that gives them protection from direct sunlight. In autumn they moult and the nymphs settle in dense colonies on tree twigs, branches and seldom on the trunk of mature trees; in almonds, many nymphs settle in the folds of bark at the base of spurs (young branches) (Talhouk, 1975). After feeding for a while, they may undergo a winter diapause, as second instar nymphs, which lasts till the following spring (Gerson and Applebaum, 2019). (EFSA2023i)
• General Remarks: Good description and illustration of the adult female given by Hodgson (1994a). Good description of the adult female, first-instar nymph, female last-instar nymph and male last-instar nymph given by Borchsenius (1957). Detailed color photos of life stages and infestations in Bolu (2024).

Illustrations

Citations