Valid Names Results

Pseudoparlatoria bennetti (Williams, 1969) (Diaspididae: Pseudoparlatoria)

Nomenclatural History

• Parlagena bennetti Williams 1969c: 97-99. Type data: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Trinidad, Manzanilla, on Cocos nucifera, ?/05/1968, by F.D. Bennett. Holotype, female, Type depository: London: The Natural History Museum, England, UK; accepted valid name Illustr.
• Parlatoria bennetti (Williams, 1969); Davies & Boratynski 1979: 100. change of combination
• Parlagena bennetti Williams, 1969; Kondo, et al. 2015: 1-6. revived combination (previously published)
• Pseudoparlatoria bennetti (Williams, 1969); Normark, et al. 2019: 57. change of combination

Common Names

• escama blanca del cocotero Mosque1976

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 2 | Genera: 5

Foes:

Families: 1 | Genera: 2

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• Willia1969c: pp.99 ( Adult (F) ) [Key to species of Parlagena] Key as: Parlagena bennetti

Remarks

• Systematics: Despite the presence of perivulvar pores, Williams (1969) placed this species in Parlagena due to simple and reduced plates that are indistinct and fragile. Phylogenetic analyses completed by Gruwell, et al., 2016 support the placement of Parlagena bennetti in the sub - family Diaspidinae, not closely associated with members of the genus Parlatoria which are in the tribe Parlatoriini. Although Parlagena bennetti resembles the type species of Parlagena, P. inops McKenzie, in its turbinate body shape; in the distribution of barrel-shaped, 2-barred dorsal ducts; and in the minute gland-spine like structures between L1, it differs in several characters that often separate higher taxa:P. inops has marginal macroducts oriented parallel to the body margin (marginal macroducts absent in :P. bennetti:), pores by the anterior spiracles (absent in :P. bennetti:), and unilobed L2 (bilobed in :P. bennetti:). Therefore, in light of moleular and morphological evidence, :Parlagena bennetti was transferred to Pseudoparlatoria. (Normark, et al., 2019)
• Structure: Female scale white, about 1.25 mm wide. Exuviae pale yellow, at edge of scale and often at right angles to the scale and leaf surface. Scale dome-shaped, of a distinct downy texture. The small dark brown adult female is completely surrounded by the downy wax, as seen when the top surface of the scale is removed. Male scale about 1.0 mm long, elongate, sides subparallel, of the same downy consistency as female scale. Exuviae pale yellow. Adult female about 0.60 mm long, slightly longer than wide, turbinate. Body membranous except for pygidium. Pygidium rounded. Median lobes small, short and rounded, as long as wide, with faint suggestion of a notch on outer margin (Williams, 1969c).
• Economic Importance: Parlagena bennetti is an economically important pest of coconut palm plantations, Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae) on San Andres Islands (Colombia), Trinidad and the Bay Islands (Honduras). Recently, P. bennetti was reported in mainland Colombia causing serious damage in an oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plantation. (Gruwell, et al., 2016)
• General Remarks: Detailed description and illustration by Williams (1969c). Color photograph in Kondo & Gullan (2022a).

Illustrations

Citations