Valid Names Results

Pseudococcus inconstans von Ellenrieder & Watson, 2021 (Pseudococcidae: Pseudococcus)

Nomenclatural History

• Pseudococcus variabilis von Ellenrieder & Watson 2016: 67-74. Type data: U.S.A: California: San Diego County, San Marcos, outdoor landscape on Agave sp., 4/15/2013, by T. Rangel & T. Ellis.. Holotype, both sexes, by original designation Type depository: Sacramento: California State Collection of Arthropods, California Dept. Food & Agriculture, California, USA; junior homonym Notes: Paratypes: 112 ♀, 15 ♂. Ex MEXICO: 1 ♀, intercepted at U.S.A.: Arizona, Nogales on Agave sp., 22.ii.1975, J. Bache-Wiig & G. Ehni leg Illustr.
• Pseudococcus inconstans von Ellenrieder & Watson 2021: 150. replacement name

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 1 | Genera: 1

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• VonEllWa2016: pp.74 ( Adult (F) ) [Pseudococcus species present in the New World]
• VonEllWa2016: pp.74-76 ( Adult (F) ) [Pseudococcus species present in the New World]

Remarks

• Systematics: The specific name Pseudococcus variabilis von Ellenrieder & Watson, 2016 is preoccupied by Pseudococcus variabilis Hall, 1924, currently considered a junior synonym of Planococcus lindingeri (Bodenheimer, 1924) (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae). Thus, Pseudococcus variabilis von Ellenrieder & Watson, 2016 is invalid under the law of homonymy, representing a primary junior homonym of Pseudococcus variabilis Hall, 1924.

  Females of Pseudococcus variabilis differ from females of all other species of Pseudococcus known to feed on Agavaceae except for Pseudococcus floriger Ferris in Zimmerman and P. orchidicola Takahashi, and from most other species of Pseudococcus known from the New World, by the presence of a ventral OR posterior to each frontal cerarius. The following combination of characters allows separation of females of P. variabilis from these two species: presence on each side of a dorsal OR between eye and anterior ostiole; ventral OC on thoracic submargin present at level of front coxa only; translucent pores on hind leg limited to tibia and femur; 15 or 16 pairs of cerarii, those on SII (C7) well developed; ventral multilocular pores on abdomen present from SVIII to SIV or III; eye lacking a sclerotized rim; dorsal setae 30–48 μm long; hind tibia 240–309 μm long; anal lobe seta 132–180 μm long. (von Ellenrieder & Watson, 2016) The adult male of P. variabilis shares the penial sheath medial slit lacking distinct lateral processes only with those of P. calceolariae, P. comstocki, P. cryptus, and P. viburni. It differs from these four species (character-states for other species in parenthesis) in having: (a) tip of aedeagus simple (forked in P. viburni), (b) dorsal and ventral abdominal setae subequal to or shorter than half the length of the segment they occupy (longer than half the length of the segment they occupy in P. calceolariae), (c) penial sheath 131–162 μm long, with sides narrowed abruptly at level of base of style (penial sheath 200 μm long, tapering gradually to tip of style in P. cryptus), and (d) basal ridge of penial sheath with a small anteromedial projection on each side, penial sheath ventrally with 2–6 small setae on anterior portion and a row of 2–6 minute setal sensilla along each side of medial slit (basal ridge of penial sheath lacking projections, penial sheath ventrally with about 12 small setae on medial portion and no row of minute setal sensilla along each side of medial slit in P. comstocki).

• Structure: Body of live adult female pale pink, with a thin coating of powdery white wax and paired, lateral filaments of white wax on margins of abdomen, with longest pair projecting from posterior-most segment. Color of body in alcohol pale pink-orange, not turning black when placed in 10% KOH (unlike Paracoccus gillianae, which often occurs on the same host-plants in California). About 50% of females have at least one discoidal pore near one eye, only 1.5% have at least one pore associated with both eyes, and 50% lack discoidal pores near eyes entirely. About 50% of females have 1 to 21 (usually less than 9) translucent pores on hind femur, and 50% lack any on both hind femora. One female (less than 1%) lacks any ventral OC submarginally on both sides at the level of the front coxae (most commonly 5 or 6 present on each side). (von Ellenrieder & Watson, 2016)
• Biology: Adult females of P. variabilis produce cottony ovisac wax that, in heavy infestations, coalesces into a mass of wax mixed with females, eggs, crawlers and males. The mealybugs are generally restricted to the underside of the leaves and infestations are usually heavier on the lower leaves, which appear shriveled, brown, and covered in wax, and can eventually die. In Mexico, P. variabilis was reported infesting Agave tequilana (blue variety) plants, used in the production of tequila, from the base near the roots to the underside of the leaves and the leaves at the heart (González Hernández et al. 2007 as Pseudococcus sp. nov.). González Hernández et al. (2007) studied the fluctuations in population density of P. variabilis in three areas of Jalisco where A. tequilana is grown and found that it peaks in July, or July and August, and decreases in winter, from December to March or April. They also mentioned that several unidentified species of Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera) parasitize P. variabilis in these populations. López Domínguez (2008) recorded an average incidence of 7.12 % by the encyrtid parasitoid Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes and Shauff on P. variabilis in Jalisco. Populations of P. variabilis from California are occasionally found coexisting with P. gillianae.
• General Remarks: Detailed description, photograph and illustration of female and male in von Ellenrieder & Watson, 2016. The DNA sequences of Pseudococcus variabilis are available at GenBank under the following accession numbers and associated data: KU234772, Pseudococcus variabilis Encinitas, on Agave shawii, 2 xii 2012, D. Kellum leg., CSCA- FTC code 11H102; KU234773, P. variabilis von Ellenrieder & Watson, U.S.A., California, San Diego County, Oceanside, on Agave vilmoriniana, 2 xi 2011, G. Terhall leg., CSCA- FTC code 11H103; KU234774, same data but CSCA-FTC code 11H106; KU234772, same data but on variegated Agave, CSCA- FTC code 11H110; KU234776, P. variabilis von Ellenrieder & Watson, Mexico, Jalisco, El Arenal, Llano Grande, 29 xi 2014, H. González Hernández leg., CSCA-FTC code 15T336; KU234777, same data but CSCA- FTC code 15T337. The COI sequences of the specimens of P. variabilis from Encinitas and Oceanside in California differ by one base pair (out of about 600 base pairs), and they differ from the sequences of the specimens from Mexico by eight (about 1.3 %) and nine (about 1.5 %) base pairs. Pseudococcus variabilis differs from the other Pseudococcus species sequenced so-far for a comparable sequence of the COI (based on Park et al. 2011 sequences in GenBank and CSCA database) by 10–11 % (P. pseudobscurus), 11.8–12.3 % (P. maritimus, P. viburni), 13 % (P. comstocki), 12.9–13.2 % (P. longispinus), and 14–15 % (P. calceolariae, P. cryptus, P. importatus, P. jackbeardsleyi).

Illustrations

Citations