A new invasive Lepidosaphes armored scale (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae) for Florida: first records, natural enemies, and an identification key
Author
Evans, Erin C. Powell Mark Zenoble Douglass R. Miller Benjamin B. Normark Gregory A.
text
Insecta Mundi
2024
2024-09-27
2024
73
1
24
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.14662496
1942-1354
14662496
1F9EE396-B0B9-4FF6-BC12-D8477154546B
Lepidosaphes tokionis
(
Kuwana, 1902
)
(
Fig. 12
)
Croton mussel scale
Hosts in FSCA.
Euphorbiaceae
:
Codiaeum
sp.
(6),
Codiaeum variegatum
(6),
Myrtaceae
:
Psidium guajava
(1)*.
Notes.
We include
L
.
tokionis
in the key because of its history of interception but there is not yet evidence that this species is established in Florida. In the course of the study, we found that
Lepidosaphes tokionis
was repeatedly misidentified as
L
.
camelliae
on
Codiaeum variegatum
from at least three separate nurseries in St. Lucie (1987), Seminole (1990), and Orange (1995) counties. Other specimens of
L
.
tokionis
were found in the FSCA collection which had been identified as
Lepidosaphes
sp.
were intercepted again in Seminole county in 1996. In other years, nursery stock in Seminole County (1997) and import inspections via
the Dominican
Republic (1989) and
Guatemala
(2001) were correctly identified as
L
.
tokionis
. We have also identified a series of much older Florida slides from Key West (1950) and St. Lucie (1920) of
L
.
tokionis
that had been unidentified until now. Unfortunately, these older slides do not indicate whether plants were nursery stock or planted in the landscape. However, most slides from this time period in the FSCA were nursery or import inspections, not collections from natural areas. For a comparison of
L
.
tokionis
with
L
.
mackieana
see the “Notes” section of the latter.