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Title: SYSTEMATIC STUDIES ON THE ANTONINA CRAWI COCKERELL (HEMIPTERA: COCCOIDEA: PSEUDOCOCOCCIDAE) COMPLEX OF PEST MEALYBUGS.

Author
item WILLIAMS, DOUGLAS - NAT.HIST.MUS., LONDON
item Miller, Douglass

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Mealybugs are agricultural pests that feed on many of the world's important crops, trees, and ornamental plants. This paper studies a complex of three mealybug species in the genus Antonina that occur on ornamental bamboos and previously were considered to be a single species. This research characterizes three species in the complex and provides identification tools for 11 Antonina species known on bamboo world wide. It is important for quarantine specialists to be able to accurately identify specimens intercepted at ports-of-entry because two of the species are invasive in many parts of the world and others may become pests in the future.

Technical Abstract: Careful analysis of specimens identified as Antonina crawi Cockerell has shown that three very similar species are involved, i.e., A. crawi, A. nakaharai Williams and Miller (new species), and A. socialis Newstead (revised status). A key is provided for 11 species reported on bamboos and a description is given for a bamboo-infesting species from Taiwan, i.e., A. maai Williams and Miller (new species). Antonina crawi is reported from China, Japan, and the U.S. (California) but is suspected to have disappeared from the latter country.