Valid Names Results

Maacoccus piperis piperis (Green, 1896) (Coccidae: Maacoccus)

Nomenclatural History

• Lecanium piperis Green 1896: 10. Type data: SRI LANKA: Punduloya, on wild pepper.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: London: The Natural History Museum, England, UK; accepted valid name
• Coccus piperis (Green, 1896); Fernald 1903b: 173. change of combination
• Coccus piperis piperis (Green, 1896); Varshney 1985: 26. change in status (level)
• Maacoccus piperis (Green, 1896); Tang 1991: 113. change of combination

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 2 | Genera: 2

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• Hodgso2023: pp.555 ( Adult (F) ) [Maacoccus species]
• JoshiGuSh2022: pp.215 ( Adult (F) ) [4 Coccidae in India]
• JoshiGuSh2022: pp.219 ( Adult (F) ) [Indian Maacoccus]
• Tang1991: pp.111 ( Adult (F) ) [Asia]

Remarks

• Structure: Body bright reddish yellow to reddish brown, dorsal ridges and margin darker or even paler in some individuals; a few irregular dark brown radiating lines or chains of spots more or less distinct in different individuals. Dorsal surface covered with a thin transparent waxy or glassy coating. Eyes black, prominent, distinctly defined. Body broadly oval, moderately convex, broadest across median area and roughly pointed on front and back, with sharply defined median longitudinal and two transverse ridges, the median ridge touching the margin in front and terminating at the anal aperture, the anterior transverse ridge meeting the margin between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts, posterior ridge extending to a point about midway between the posterior stigmatic cleft and the anal cleft. (Joshi, et al., 2022)
• Economic Importance: Macoccus piperis has been collected only once, at Bengaluru, Karnataka. Perhaps this species does not cause any economic damage at present and hence has been neglected previously, though it is probably present in other pepper-growing areas of India. In the present study, the scale was found in large numbers but more than 90% of the collected specimens had been parasitized, showing the exit holes of emerged adult parasitoids. This indicates that the population is being kept at a low level by these parasitoids. In the present study no ant species were found attending the scale insects, nor any predators preying on them. (Joshi, et al., 2022)
• General Remarks: The early descriptions of this species by Green (1904; 1922) are scanty; the redescription by Tang (1991) is in Chinese and therefore not accessible to all. A detailed redescription, photographs and illustration are in Joshi, et al., 2022

Illustrations

Citations