Saccharicoccus sacchari ( Cockerell, 1895 )

Zhang, Jiang-Tao, Wu, Bo-Wen & Wu, San-An, 2018, A review of the genus Saccharicoccus Ferris, 1950 (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) in China, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4375 (1), pp. 127-135 : 133

Saccharicoccus sacchari ( Cockerell, 1895)

Dactylopius sacchari Cockerell 1895: 195 .

Pseudococcus sacchari ( Cockerell): Cockerell 1902 : 252.

Erium sacchari (Cockerell) : Lindinger 1935: 122.

Trionymus praegrandis James 1936: 200 .

Trionymus sacchari (Cockerell) : Zimmerman 1948: 266.

Saccharicoccus sacchari (Cockerell) : Ferris 1950: 217; Wang 1982: 98, 2001: 91; Tao 1989: 58; Tang 1992: 217; Danzig & Gavrilov-Zimin 2015: 94 –95.

Material examined, all from CHINA, detailed latitudes and longitudes unknown. Five adult females (on 1 slide), Fujian, Zhangzhou City, on Saccharum sinense (Poaceae) , 19.vii.2010, coll. Yan-Biao He; 5 adult females (on 1 slide), Guangdong, Zhanjiang City, on S. sinense , 17.vi.2010, coll. Yan-Biao He.

Host-plants. Saccharicoccus sacchari is only known on Poaceae . In China, it has been recorded on Imperata cylindrica , Miscanthus sp., M. sinensis , Oryza sativa , Saccharum officinarum , S. sinense and Sorghum bicolor ( Wang 1981, 1982, 2001; Yang 1982; Tang 1992; Wu 2009, 2009a; Tsai 2011).

Distribution. Afrotropical, Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic. In China: Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Tibet, Yunnan and Zhejiang provinces ( Wang 1981, 1982, 2001; Yang 1982; Tang 1992; Wu 2009, 2009a; Tsai 2011).

Biology. Saccharicoccus sacchari is always hidden under the leaf sheaths of its host-plants; each female lays 300–400 eggs in an ovisac. The eggs hatch in 3–5 days and complete development in 20–30 days. This mealybug is one of the most important pests of sugarcane in the sugarcane-growing regions in Guangxi ( Zhou et al. 1999; Qin et al. 2013).