Duplachionaspis divergens ( Green, 1899 )

Caballero, Alejandro, Ramos-Portilla, Andrea Amalia & Kondo, Takumasa, 2017, Scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) on sugarcane in Colombia, with description of a new species of Tillancoccus Ben-Dov (Coccidae), Zootaxa 4258 (5), pp. 490-500 : 495

Duplachionaspis divergens ( Green, 1899)

Hosts. Oligophagous on hosts belonging to 19 genera in Poaceae ( García Morales et al. 2016; Lastra & Gómez 1997).

Diagnosis. Adult female cover flat, white, broadly oyster-shell shaped; exuviae marginal, yellow to brown. Slide-mounted characters of adult female: with 2 pairs of well-developed lobes; median lobes divergent, not yoked basally, with a pair of distinct marginal setae between them. Gland spine formula: 2-2-2(3). Macroducts on pygidium subequal in size, without ducts between medial lobes; submedial ducts present on segments 3 to 6. Dorsal microducts present on submedial and submarginal areas of segments 1 to 3. Perivulvar pores present in 5 groups, with approximately 45 pores on each side of body. Anterior spiracles each with 10–12 pores, posterior spiracles with 5–10 pores ( Yu & Suh 2013).

Distribution. Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic regions ( García Morales et al. 2016). In Colombia, this species was recorded for the first time in the department of Valle del Cauca by Lastra & Gómez (1997). We record it from Risaralda and Meta departments.

Economic importance. Duplachionaspis divergens has been reported as a minor pest of sugarcane in India and Colombia ( Lastra & Gómez 1997). It is a commonly encountered, grass-infesting armored scale in Florida, USA ( Evans & Hodges 2007). In Colombia, although it was recorded in the sugarcane growing region of the department of Valle del Cauca, populations are generally low and no control is required ( Uribe et al. 1997). However, Bustillo (2013) reported that a foliar infestation of up to 30% (presence of scales on one third of the leaf area) can cause losses to sugarcane production and the damage is worst in places where the soil has low fertility.

Material studied. COLOMBIA: Risaralda, La Virginia , 8.v.2015, coll. A. Ramos, 3 ♀, UNAB voucher N° 677 . Meta, Puerto Lopez , Vda. Yurimena, Fca. Bioenergy, 227 m a.s.l., 04°10′45″N, 72°36′16″W, 19.vi.2015, Coll. A. Ramos, 3 ♀, UNAB voucher N° 677.

Note: All material collected off leaves of S. officinarum .

Specimens of D. divergens recorded on sugarcane in Valle del Cauca by Lastra & Gómez (1997) were not available in the present study. According to Lastra & Gómez (1997), the identification of D. divergens was done in the USA, but at the Colombian Center for Sugarcane Research (Cenicaña) there are no voucher specimens to support that identification (Dr. Germán Vargas, Cenicaña, personal communication, 2015).