Valid Names Results

Tectococcus ovatus Hempel, 1900 (Eriococcidae: Tectococcus)

Nomenclatural History

• Tectococcus ovatus Hempel 1900a: 406-407. Type data: BRAZIL: Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, on unidentified Myrtaceae. Syntypes, female, Type depository: Berlin: Museum fur Naturkunde der Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Germany; Sao Paulo: Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil; Washington: United States National Entomological Collection, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, District of Columbia, USA; accepted valid name Notes: USNM has four pins of dry material labeled "cotypes." Illustr.

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 2 | Genera: 2

Foes:

Families: 3 | Genera: 3

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• Hodgso2020: pp.73 ( Adult (M) ) [some “Gondwanan” Eriococcidae]

Remarks

• Systematics: Slide-mounted adult female with: enlarged setae slightly expanded, elongate, sides straight, apically acute, restricted to abdomen, forming 3 longitudinal lines on abdomen; hair-like setae scattered over dorsal surface; anal ring without pores, setae not on ring sclerotization; dorsal multilocular pores restricted to abdomen; ventral multilocular pores predominantly with 5 loculi; cruciform pores absent; macrotubular ducts restricted to abdomen on both surfaces; microtubular ducts absent (Ferris, 1957c). The adult female is oval, without wings, very fragile, and unchitinized. the tegument is soft, clear rosy to dark rosy in color, with transverse grooves in the dorsal part, and covered by powdery white wax. the adult has visible legs, but seemingly without function in the adult insect. The eyes are black and visible; the anal apperatus is acuminate and the ring of the anus is hairless. The antennae are small, with six joints, the first of which is longer than the others. The rustrum is small in comparison to the body. (Vitorino, Pedrosa-Madedo & Smith, 2000) The adult male has an elongate abdomen; antennae short less than half total body length; body with very few setae, all hairlike; fleshy setae absent on body; length of fleshy setae on antennae and legs slightly less than width of antennae; glandular pouches and glandular pounch setae absent. (Hodgson & Miller, 2010) The nymphs are a clear yellow color with a pair of obvious, dark eyes. The three pairs of legs are visible and functional when the numphs leave the galls and settle on young leaves or buds. (Vitorino, Pedrosa-Madedo & Smith, 2000)
• Structure: The species forms circular galls which are convex on both sides. The gall is formed on both sides of the leaf and open on the underside. Adult female is ovate, inflated, brown, dusted with a white powder with a soft derm. Eggs are small, elliptical and light yellow in color (Hempel, 1900a). Inside, the galls are flat and its walls covered with a characteristic fine, white powdery layer when the adult female is present. The powder is concentrated close to the exit aperture of the gall, close to the acuminate point. when the adult female is present, the wax stays on the insect body and does not close the exit, but remains covering the internal walls of the gall. A free wax formation exudes from the aperture, like a small cotton ball, when the female is laying eggs and the nymphs are dispersing. (Vitorino, Pedrosa-Macedo & Smith, 2000)
• Biology: Nymphs leave the gall to settle on young leaves or buds. They penetrate the plant epidermis with their rostrum and suck the cytoplasm. Subseuently, a gall forms around the nymph. Gall formation always begins with the production of the acuminate side, the convex side forming only when the acuminate side is complete or close to completion. Nymphs also establish galls on floral busy, young branches and even on developing fruit. Reproduction is facultatively parthenogenetic, but there is at least one alternation of generations each year. Males appear in late Spring and sometimes in late Autum. The male is very fragile, with a single set of wings. Oviposition occurs inside the gall between the months of May and June, sometimes in July, and to a lesser degree between January and February. The eggs are elliptical and yellowish. The eggs remain inside the gall until the nymphs hatch between June and July from the Autumn oviposition and February and Marcy from the Spring oviposition. There is considerable variation in the number of eggs present inside each gall which is related to the size of the gall. The lowest number of eggs was 61, the highest 236. The eggs are extruded in a string and are attached to one another. (Vitorino, Pedrosa-Macedo & Smith, 2000)
• Economic Importance: In the absence of its natural enemies, Tectococcus ovatus may be very effective as a biological control agent because heavy infestations result in premature leaf drop. However, it is most effective at high elevations of the host plant's range. (Vitorino, Pedrosa-Macedo & Smith, 2000) Since 2014, this gall-inducing eriococcid has been released on the islands of Hawaii and Oahu for the control of the highly invasive strawberry guava, Psidium cattleyanum. (Kondo & Gullan, 2022)
• General Remarks: Descriptions and illustrations by Hempel (1900a and 1901). Diagnosis and illustration of the male in Hodgson, 2020.

Illustrations

Citations