Pulvinaria floccifera (Westwood, 1870)

(Figs 39, 40)

Coccus flocciferus Westwood, 1870: 308 .

Diagnosis. Dorsal derm without polygonal reticulations; tubular ducts absent; duct tubercles present (Fig. 40B). Marginal setae with pointed or frayed apices (Fig. 40D). Stigmatic clefts distinct, each containing 3 stigmatic spines (Figs 39C, 40E). Venter with multilocular disc-pores usually each with 7 loculi, mainly present around vulvar area, a few pores also present laterad of each meta-, meso- and procoxa (Fig. 40H); tubular ducts of 3 types: type I each with a broad inner ductule, mainly present on medial area of head, thorax and anterior abdomen, type II each with a narrow inner ductule, mainly present on medial area of posterior abdomen and submarginal area of abdomen, and type III each with a filamentous inner ductule, present on submarginal area (Figs 39D, 40J); antenna 6 to 8 segmented (Fig. 40M) (partially adopted from Tanaka & Amano 2007).

Material examined. 2 ♀♀, LAOS, Pakngum Dist., Vientiane Capital, 28.viii.2016, coll. P.P. Soysouvanh, on Centotheca lappacea (L.) Desv. ( Poaceae).

Hosts. Polyphagous. According to García Morales et al. (2016), P. floccifera has been recorded from plants belonging to 50 genera in 35 families.

Distribution. All zoogeographical regions; Oriental Region (India and Vietnam) (Hodgson & Henderson 2000; García Morales et al. 2016); Laos (new country record).

Economic importance. Łagowska et al. (2017) described P. floccifera as a serious pest of ornamental plants in Europe; and in Iran, it is considered to be a serious pest of citrus (Naeimamini et al. 2014) and tea ( Camellia sinensis) (Hallaji-Sani et al. 2012).

Remarks. Pulvinaria floccifera is very similar to P. urbicola Cockerell, but Tanaka & Amano (2007) separated the species based on the presence or absence of dermal areolations and the number of preopercular pores: P. floccifera lacks dermal areolations and has 48–83 preopercular pores, whereas P. urbicola has dermal areolations and only 4–27 preopercular pores.