Saccharicoccus sacchari (grey sugarcane mealybug)
Identity
- Preferred Scientific Name
- Saccharicoccus sacchari (Cockerell)
- Preferred Common Name
- grey sugarcane mealybug
- Other Scientific Names
- Dactylopius sacchari Ckll.
- Dactylopius sacchari brasiliensis van Gorkum, 1913
- Erium sacchari (Cockerell)
- Phenacoccus sacchari
- Pseudococcus sacchari Ckll.
- Pseudococcus sacchari brasiliensis Gorkum
- Pseudococcus saccharina
- Trechocorys sacchari Cockerell
- Trionymus praegrandis James, 1936
- Trionymus sacchari Ckll.
- Tryonymus sacchari Cockerell
- International Common Names
- Englishgrey mealybug of sugarcanepink sugarcane mealy bugsugarcane mealybugsugarcane, mealybugsugarcane, mealybug, pink
- Spanishchinche harinosa de la cana de azucarchinche harinosa grischinche harinosa gris de la cañachinche rosada de la cana de azucarcochinilla blanca de la caña de azúcar
- Frenchcochenille de la canne a sucrecochenille grise de la canne à sucre
- Local Common Names
- Brazilcochonilha rosadacochonilha rosada da cana
- GermanySchmierlaus, Zuckerrohr-
- ItalyCocciniglia della Canna da zucchero
- JapanKansyo-konakaigaramusi
- South Africasuikerriet-wolluis
- EPPO code
- PSECSA (Pseudococcus sacchari)
Pictures
Adults on stem
Females pink, of typical mealybug appearance, often covered with white 'meal', up to 7 mm long.
Peter G. Allsopp
Parasitized adult
S. sacchari adults parasitized by Anagyrus saccharicola.
Peter G. Allsopp
Parasitized adults
S. sacchari adults parasitized by Aspergillus flavus.
Peter G. Allsopp
Saccharicoccus sacchari
Mealybugs release honeydew which attracts ants
NBAIR
Saccharicoccus sacchari
Adult mealybugs
NBAIR
Saccharicoccus sacchari
Alessandra Rung, California Department of Food and Agriculture, bugwood.org
Refer to Bugwood: http://www.bugwood.org/ImageUsage.html
Saccharicoccus sacchari
Alessandra Rung, California Department of Food and Agriculture, bugwood.org
Refer to Bugwood: http://www.bugwood.org/ImageUsage.html
Distribution
Host Plants and Other Plants Affected
| Host | Host status | References |
|---|---|---|
| Ananas comosus (pineapple) | Other | |
| Cortaderia selloana (pampas grass) | Wild host | |
| Holcus (softgrasses) | Wild host | |
| Imperata cylindrica (cogon grass) | Wild host | |
| Miscanthus japonicus | Wild host | |
| Oryza sativa (rice) | Other | |
| Phragmites australis (common reed) | Wild host | |
| Poaceae (grasses) | Other | |
| Saccharum | Unknown | Borges et al. (2019) Assefa and Conlong (2009) |
| Saccharum edule | Other | |
| Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) | Main | Monteiro et al. (2023) |
| Sorghum bicolor (sorghum) | Other |
Symptoms
High populations of S. sacchari are associated with poor growth and yellowing of the stem and leaves. Copious honeydew often attracts ants. High populations and thus high levels of honeydew can also give rise to sooty mould production.
List of Symptoms/Signs
| Symptom or sign | Life stages | Sign or diagnosis |
|---|---|---|
| Plants/Leaves/abnormal colours | ||
| Plants/Leaves/honeydew or sooty mould | ||
| Plants/Leaves/honeydew or sooty mould | ||
| Plants/Roots/external feeding | ||
| Plants/Stems/external feeding |
Prevention and Control
Introduction
S. sacchari usually causes insufficient direct damage to necessitate control measures. However, control may be important because of the mealybug's association with sugar quality and for virus control.
S. sacchari usually causes insufficient direct damage to necessitate control measures. However, control may be important because of the mealybug's association with sugar quality and for virus control.
Chemical Control
Due to the variable regulations around (de-)registration of pesticides, we are for the moment not including any specific chemical control recommendations. For further information, we recommend you visit the following resources:
•
EU pesticides database (http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/eu-pesticides-database/)
•
PAN pesticide database (www.pesticideinfo.org)
•
Your national pesticide guide
Impact
S. sacchari rarely causes yield loss in sugarcane, but high populations canweaken sugarcane plants and symptoms such as stunting and yellowing, death ofyoung shoots and impaired growth are recorded (Dick, 1969). Field studies inUttar Pradesh (Atiqui and Murad, 1992) indicated that infestation of thecultivar Co1148 decreased the sucrose and sugar content of sugarcane and itspurity (average losses in brix, pol, purity and available sugar content of10.64, 16.44, 6.14 and 12.92%, respectively). However, the volume of cane juicewas not affected significantly.High populations can produce large amounts of honeydew and sooty mould growingon this excreta will disfigure crops. S. sacchari is associated withfiltration and clarification problems, lower quality of the syrup and reducedcrystallization (Hall, 1922; Dymond, 1929; Dick, 1969). These effects areprobably related to the production of honeydew and associated polysaccharidesand gums and/or the close association with S. sacchari of acetic-acid-producingbacteria (Ashbolt and Inkerman, 1990).S. sacchari is a vector of sugarcane mosaic potyvirus (SCMV) (Lockhart et al.,1992).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © CABI. CABI is a registered EU trademark. This article is published under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
History
Published online: 9 October 2023
Language
English
Authors
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