Pulvinaria vitis (Linnaeus)

Moghaddam, Masumeh & Watson, Gillian W., 2024, The Scale Insects Of Iran (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) Part 3 The Soft Scales (Coccidae) And Other Families, Zootaxa 5542 (1), pp. 1-202 : 86-88

Pulvinaria vitis (Linnaeus)

( Fig. 36 , distribution map Fig. 93B )

Coccus vitis Linnaeus, 1758: 456 . Pulvinaria betulae Signoret, 1873a: 31 . Pulvinaria vitis (Linnaeus) ; Signoret 1873b: 45. Pulvinaria vitis (Linnaeus) ; Malumphy 1991: 5.

Field characteristics: Appearance of live adult female varies with age, host-plant and position on host. Young adult female yellow / reddish brown / dark brown with a variable brown mottle, occasionally with yellow longitudinal median stripe or with black stripes radiating from mid-dorsum to margin; body becoming uniform dark brown, wrinkled and sclerotized with age. Ovisac white, large and strongly convex.

Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female body broadly oval, widest at abdomen. Stigmatic clefts shallow but distinct. Anal cleft of moderate depth.

Dorsum. Derm membranous in young female, becoming heavily sclerotized with maturity, with sparse areolations. Setae each spinose, sharply pointed, sometimes slightly curved, present throughout. Pores present throughout. Preopercular pores each oval with granular surface, present in an elongate group between anal plates anteriorly to about third abdominal segment. Duct tubercles present on submargin. Tubular ducts small and sparsely distributed. Anal plates together quadrate; each plate with 3 small apical setae. Anal ring bearing 6 large and 2 shorter setae.

Margin. Marginal setae spinose, fine, often curved, pointed; distributed more-or-less in 2 rows, with 8‒19 setae between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts on each side; those on either side of anal cleft rather longer than elsewhere. Stigmatic clefts distinct but shallow, each containing 3 stigmatic setae, with median seta longest, often slightly curved, bluntly pointed.

Venter. Derm membranous. Pregenital disc-pores mostly each with 10 loculi, numerous around anogenital fold, less frequent across all preceding abdominal segments and metathorax; also present laterad to each meso- and metacoxae. Spiracular disc-pores each with 5 loculi, present in a broad band between each spiracle and margin and extending a short distance medially. Microducts each with a circular orifice, abundant in a submarginal band (not shown in Fig. 36 ) and scattered throughout. Tubular ducts of 3 types ( Fig. 36 ), abundant throughout, except medially on head and anterior to antennae; (i) a duct consisting of a fairly short outer ductule, a shallow cup-shaped invagination, a filamentous inner ductule and a minute terminal gland; present in a broad submarginal band extending from anal cleft to near antennae; (ii) a duct rather similar to (i) but with inner ductule fairly broad and often much longer than outer ductule, with a large terminal gland; present medially in more posterior abdominal segments and laterally interspersed with type (i) ducts; and (iii) a slightly larger duct, with a deeper cup-shaped invagination and an inner ductule even broader than in (ii); only duct present medially on head, thorax and more anterior abdominal segments; extending laterally to band of type (i) and (ii) ducts, where they become infrequent or absent. Three pregenital segments each with a pair of long setae; also with 3 or 4 pairs of long and 1 or 2 pairs of short setae between antennal bases; smaller setae frequent in submarginal row; other setae as normal. Legs well developed, each with free tibio-tarsal articulation and an articulatory sclerosis; claw with a small denticle; claw digitules both broad and marginally shorter than tarsal digitules. Antennae each with 8 segments, third segment usually longest.

Distribution: Pulvinaria vitis is a cosmopolitan species found in 53 countries in four zoogeographical regions ( García Morales et al. 2016); in Iran, it is found in Esfahan, Fars, Khorasan -e Razavi, Mazandaran, Sistan & Balouchestan and Tehran provinces ( Moghaddam 2013).

Host-plants: The species is fairly polyphagous, having been recorded on host-plants in belonging to 15 families ( García Morales et al. 2016). In Iran, it has been recorded on Alnus sp. ( Betulaceae ); Robinia sp. ( Fabaceae ); Melia sp. ( Meliaceae ); Ficus carica ( Moraceae ); Pyrus communis ( Rosaceae ); Salix sp. ( Salicaceae ); Zelkova carpinifolia ( Ulmaceae ); and Vitis persica ( Vitaceae ) ( Moghaddam 2013).

Economic importance: Not of any economic importance in Iran.

Natural enemies: The parasitoid wasp Coccophagus insidiator (Dalman) ( Hymenoptera : Aphelinidae ) has been recorded attacking P. vitis in Iran ( Ebrahimi 2014).

Figures

FIGURE 36. Adult female of Pulvinaria vitis (Linnaeus); tubular ducts of types (i), (ii) and (iii) shown; for details of their respective distributions, see also the diagnosis.

FIGURE 93. Distribution maps of scale insect species in Iran covered in this work. A, Pulvinaria urbicola Cockerell; B, Pulvinaria vitis (Linnaeus); C, Rhizococcus asperulae Moghaddam; D, Rhizococcus avicennae Moghaddam; E, Rhizococcus borchsenii Danzig; F, Rhizococcus istresianus (Goux); G, Rhizococcus reynei (Schmutterer); H, Rhizococcus saxidesertus (Borchsenius); I, Rhizopulvinaria artemisiae (Signoret); J, Rhizopulvinaria turkestanica (Archangelskaya); K, Saissetia coffeae (Walker); L, Saissetia miranda (Cockerell & Parrott); M, Saissetia oleae (Olivier); N, Sphaerolecanium prunastri (Boyer de Fonscolombe); O, Stotzia ephedrae (Newstead).