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Title: SCALE INSECTS (HEMIPTERA, COCCOIDEA) OF ORNAMENTAL PLANTS FROM SAO CARLOS, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL.

Author
item PERONTI, A.L.B.G. - FED UNIV. OF SAO CARLOS
item Miller, Douglass
item SOUSA-SILVA, C.R. - FED UNIV. OF SAO CARLOS

Submitted to: Insecta Mundi
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/11/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Scale insects cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year through crop losses and control expenses. With increased world trade the liklihood of introducing new pest species is also enhanced. For the protection of the U.S. ornamentals industry it is important to know as much about ornamental pests world wide as possible. This paper provides information on the ornamental scale-insect pests of Brazil including their scientific names, host-plant interactions, and plant injury. This research will assist quarantine specialists, state regulatory officials, scientists studying invasive species, and ornamental horticulturalists to safeguard the ornamental industry in the U.S. and Brazil.

Technical Abstract: A list of 35 scale insects collected from 72 ornamental plant species in Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, Brazil is provided. Thirty of the species are polyphagous, 4 are oligophagous, and 1 is monophagous. A total of 102 scale insect/plant associations are reported; 29 are new host records for the species and 60 are new host records for the species in Brazil. Pulvinaria urbicola Cockerell (Coccidae), Phenacoccus similis Granara de Willink (Pseudococcidae), and Orthezia molinari Morrison (Ortheziidae) are recorded for the first time in Brazil. In addition, we describe the injury caused by these scale insects on ornamental plants.