Mycetaspis personatus (Comstock)
Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Hemimetabola, Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Coccomorpha, Coccoidea, Diaspididae.
Common name: Masked scale.
Geographical distribution: North Africa, Mostly in the New World, the Middle east, Iran.
Host plants: Polyphagous, common on mango and Ficus.
Economic importance: A minor pest of mango in the Middle East.
Morphology: The macroducts are one-barred. The body of the female is rounded, about 0.7 mm in length, the top of the prosoma is sclerotized. The pygidium has four triangular lobes, the median pair largest, with smooth sides and a strong basal prolongation. The second lobes are smaller (also from the third lobe) and lightly notched on their external margins, the two other lobes larger, each with several notches. A group of about 15 ventral microducts emerge at the level of the vulva and open in front of the lobes. About 7-8 club-like processes (paraphyses) arise from and between the lobes on either side of the pygidium. The anus is located midway between median lobes and vulva, the latter being without of perivulvar pores. The shield of the female is black, round, quite convex, about 1 mm in diameter, the juvenile exuviae at center. The shield of the male is flat, oval, its color lighter, the exuvium of the 1st instar off-center.
Life cycle: On mango in Egypt the pest had 2-3 population peaks (in spring, in mid-summer and in autumn). The crawlers (about 200-300/female) usually prefer the center of trees over the external, more lighted plant regions the year around. Temperatures between 23-26°C, and relative humidity of ca. 65%, are optimal for the scale.
Economic importance: The scale is a minor pest of mango in the Middle East.
Management
Plant resistance: Mango varieties are differently susceptible to scale infestation in Egypt, but no correlations were found between leaf characteristics (thickness, chemical components or other variables tested) and scale numbers.
Biological control: The aphelinid ectoparasitoid Aphytis chrysomphali (Mercet) attacks the pest in Egypt.
References
Abd-Rabou, S. and M. Hayat,M. 2003. A synopsis and key to the Egyptian species of Aphytis Howard (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) parasitoids of diaspidid scale insects (Homoptera: Diaspididae). Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 38: 357–363.
Salama, H.S. 1970. Population dynamics of the scale insect Mycetaspis personatus (Comstock) in Egypt (Homoptera-Coccoidea). Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Entomologie 70: 42-46.
Salama, H.S. 1970. On the population density and bionomics of Parlatoria blanchardi (Targ.) and Mycetaspis personatus (Comstock) (Homoptera, Coccoidea). Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Entomologie 70: 403-407.
Salama, H.S. and Saleh, M.R. 1972. Population of the scale insect Mycetaspis personatus (Comstock) on different varieties of Mangifera indica L. Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Entomologie 70: 328-331.
Salama, H.S. and Saleh, M.R. 1971. Control of the scale insect Mycetaspis personatus (Comstock) in Egypt (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Egypt, Economic Series 5: 155–158.