Valid Names Results

Parthenolecanium quercifex (Fitch, 1859) (Coccidae: Parthenolecanium)

Nomenclatural History

• Lecanium quercifex Fitch 1859: 805. Type data: U.S.A.: New York, Salem, on white oak.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: Albany: New York State Museum Insect Collection, New York, USA; New York: American Museum of Natural History, Department of Entomology Collection, New York, USA; accepted valid name
• Lecanium quercitronis Fitch 1859: 805. Type data: U.S.A.: New York, Salem, on twigs of black oak.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: Albany: New York State Museum Insect Collection, New York, USA; New York: American Museum of Natural History, Department of Entomology Collection, New York, USA; junior synonym (discovered by Sander1909a, 445).
• Lecanium antennatum Signoret 1873a: 413. Type data: U.S.A.: New York, on oak.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: Vienna: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria; junior synonym (discovered by Sander1909a, 445).
• Lecanium pruinosum kermoides Tyrrell 1896: 268. Type data: U.S.A.: California, on orange, oak and locust.. Syntypes, both sexes, Type depository: Washington: United States National Entomological Collection, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, District of Columbia, USA; junior synonym (discovered by Sander1909a, 445).
• Lecanium (Eulecanium) antennatum; Cockerell 1896b: 332. subsequent use
• Lecanium (Eulecanium) quercifex; Cockerell & Parrott 1899: 235. subsequent use
• Lecanium (Eulecanium) quercitronis; Cockerell & Parrott 1899: 232. subsequent use
• Eulecanium quercifex (Fitch, 1859); King 1901h: 315. change of combination
• Eulecanium quercitronis (Fitch, 1859); King 1901h: 315. change of combination
• Eulecanium antennatum (Signoret, 1873); Fernald 1903b: 181. change of combination
• Eulecanium quercitronis kermoides; Fernald 1903b: 195. subsequent use
• Parthenolecanium quercifex (Fitch, 1859); Nakahara 1981a: 285. change of combination

Common Names

• oak lecanium Gill1988 HamonWi1984
• oak lecanium scale BrownEa1965
• Escama blanda grande del roble KondoGaWa2022

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 5 | Genera: 6

Foes:

Families: 1 | Genera: 1

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• Gill1988: pp.60 ( Adult (F) ) [USA, California]

Remarks

• Structure: See colour photograph in Gill (1988)
• Biology: Parthenolecanium quercifex is an oak pest that has one generation per year and is native to much of North America. Adults produce eggs in the late spring, usually in May. Gravid females lay a dozen to several thousand eggs in an ovisac. First instars migrate from ovisacs to leaves and feed on phloem throughout summer. In fall they molt and migrate back to tree stems. Second instars overwinter and undergo development into adults in the early spring. Meineke, et al. (2013) found that overwintering second instars were 13 times more abundant on hot trees than on cold trees. P. quercifex was locally acclimated or adapted to urban thermal conditions and that this led directly to higher abundance. Warmer ambient temperatures due to heat accumulation on paved surfaces in urban areas (i.e. heat islands) increased populations of Parthenolecanium quercifex (Fitch) on oak trees in Raleigh, North Carolina.
• Economic Importance: Schulz (199) studied the flight activity of native parasites on oak trees in Virginia, USA. P. quercifex oviposits earlier in warmer urban areas, relative to similar, cooler areas,whereas the phenology of its parasitoid community did not similarly advance. This mismatch between parasitoid and host phenology did not reduce the proportion of P. quercifex scale insects that were parasitized. However, parasitized P. quercifex on trees in hot zones produced twice as many eggs as parasitized individuals on cooler urban trees, while the number of eggs produced by unparasitized individuals did not differ with temperature, as found in previous studies of other scale insect species. Meineke, et al., 2014 suggest that climate warming may increase pest abundance in many habitats through phenological mismatches that reduce biological control.
• General Remarks: Good description and illustration of adult female by Hamon & Williams (1984) and by Gill (1988).

Illustrations

Citations