© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
8:
12-14, 2015
DOI 10.1515/hppj-2015-0002
Technological Educational Institute of Peloponnese,
Department of Agricultural Technology, Antikalamos,
GR-241 00 Kalamata, Messinia, Greece
* Corresponding author:
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Record of
Phenacoccus peruvianus
Granara de Willing
and
Phenacoccus madeirensis
(Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)
on new host ornamental plants in Greece
G.J. Stathas*, E.D. Kartsonas and A.I. Darras
Summary
Two invasive mealybug species,
Phenacoccus peruvianus
Granara de Willink and
Phenacoc-
cus madeirensis
Green (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), have been recorded on new species of ornamen-
tal plants in different regions of Greece.
Phenacoccus peruvianus
was recorded in Athens on
Cestrum
nocturnum
L. (Solanaceae) in September 2013.
Phenacoccus madeirensis
was found in Kalamata (Pelo-
ponnese) on
Aloysia citriodora
Paláu (Verbenaceae) in May 2014 and on
Osteospermum jucundum
(Phil-
lips) (Asteraceae) in July 2014. This is the first record of
O. jucundum
as host plant of
P. madeirensis
.
During the recent years, mealybugs
(Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) have been
spreading in many countries, causing se-
vere damage mainly on ornamental plants.
Scale insects represent the second largest
group of alien insects in Europe after aphids
(DAISIE, 2008; Beltrà
et al
., 2010). The mealy-
bug scale insects are typical invasive species
(Miller
et al.,
2005) due to their small size and
cryptic behaviour (Beltrà
et al
., 2010). Their
entrance to an area without natural ene-
mies, facilitates their easy establishment,
and increases the possibility of causing ec-
onomically significant damage.
The literature review provided the occur-
rence of 6 species from the genus
Phenacoc-
cus
in Greece, namely:
Phenacoccus bicerar-
ius
Borchsenius (Kozár
et al.,
1991),
P. hordei
(Lindeman) (Milonas and Kozár, 2008),
P. pe-
ruvianus
Granara de Willink, (Gkounti and
Milonas, 2013),
P. interruptus
Green (Kozár,
1985),
P. madeirensis
Green (Jansen
et al.,
2010; Papadopoulou and Chryssohoides,
2012) and
P.
yerushalmi
Ben-Dov (Ben-Dov
et al.,
2006).
In this study, the presence of
P. peruvi-
anus
and
P. madeirensis
have been recorded
in new locations on new host plant species,
only a short time after their first appearance
in Greece. The mealybugs were found dur-
ing phytosanitary inspections on ornamen-
tal plants in public and private gardens in
the towns of Kalamata (Peloponnese) and
Athens.
The bougainvillea mealybug
Phenacoc-
cus peruvianus
is native to Neotropic region
(Peru, Argentina). In Europe, it was first re-
ported in the region of Almeria, Spain (1999)
on
Bougainvillea glabra
Choisy (Nyctag-
inaceae). Later it was found in Sicily, Ita-
ly (2002), south East England and Corsica
(2005), Portugal (2006), Monaco (2008) and
France (2008) on
Bougainvillea
sp., while in
2009 was first recorded on
Justicia suberecta
(Acanthaceae) and
Solanum vespertili
o Alion
(Solanaceae) in the island of Majorca (Spain)
(Beltrà
et al
., 2010). Its fast spread through-
out the Mediterranean basin is believed to
be facilitated by the increase of world trade
of ornamental plants (Beltrà
et al
., 2010;
Gkounti and Milonas, 2013).
Phenacoccus pe-
ruvianus
was first recorded in Greece (in the
island of Paros) on
Bougainvillea
sp. in au-
tumn of 2012 (Gkounti and Milonas, 2013).
During the present study,
P. peruvianus
