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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #169340
Title: NEW HYPOGEIC SPECIES OF OREGMOPYGA HOY FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Author
item KONDO, TAKUMASA - UNIVERSITY OF CA
item GULLAN, PENNY - UNIVERSITY OF CA
item Miller, Douglass

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2004
Publication Date: 12/10/2004
Citation: Kondo, T., Gullan, P.J., Miller, D.R. 2004. new hypogeic species of oregmopyga hoy from southern california. Zootaxa. 2004: 784:1-12.

Interpretive Summary: Scale insects cause billions of dollars in damage or control costs each year and are serious threats as invasive species in the U. S. and elsewhere. This paper provides a description of a new species of felt scale that is commonly encountered in California deserts and is a component of the biological diversity of the area. The species will be of particular importance to conservations interested in understanding and saving the diversity of the disappearing desert ecosystems. State and Federal insect identifiers also will find this research important since it provides identification aids for all species of the genus Oregmopyga.

Technical Abstract: A new species of hypogeic eriococcid, Oregmopyga viscosa Kondo & Gullan (Hemiptera: Coccoidea), is described and illustrated based on the adult female and the second-instar male and female. This species is known from Inyo, Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties in southern California, and it lives just below the soil surface on the crown of its host, probably always on Hymenoclea salsola Torr. & A. Gray (Asteraceae). A revised key to the adult females of all nine species of Oregmopyga is included.