Redescription of the red-striped soft scale, Pulvinaria tenuivalvata (Newstead), with a new synonymy (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Coccidae)

Abstract

The soft scale, Pulvinaria tenuivalvata (Newstead, 1911), is a major pest of sugarcane in Egypt. This paper provides a redescription and illustration of the adult female based on a microscopic study of the morphology of several adult female specimens and of the type series illustrated by De Lotto (1965) on citronella grass from Uganda. Two paratypes of Pulvinaria saccharia De Lotto, 1964 are also studied and the name is placed here as a junior synonym of P. tenuivalvata.