Scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) fauna of the southern coast of Caspian Sea (Golestan, Mazandaran and Gilan provinces, Iran)

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Abstract

In this study, 58 scale insects are recorded from Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan Provinces, Iran. They belong to five families: Asterolecanidae, Coccidae, Diaspididae, Eriococcidae and Pseudococcidae. The general characters and identification keys to the genera are provided. The identified species are listed and associated with the localities, collecting dates, host plants and collector names. Among these species, 25 species are recorded from the pastures and forest trees, of which Cryptococcus fagisuga Lindinger causes serious damage to Fagus orientalis. Four species, i.e. Leucaspis pusilla Löw, Eriococcus spurius (Modeer), Planococcus vovae (Nasonov) and Lopholeucaspis japonica (Cockerell) are more distributed in urban areas. Twenty four species are recorded on the fruit trees broadly: Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), Aspidiotus nerii Bouché, Chrysomphalus dictyospermi (Morgan), Parlatoria oleae (Colveé), Ceroplastes floridensis Comstock, Coccus hesperidum Linnaeus, Pulvinaria aurantii Cockerell, Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret) and Planococcus citri (Risso). Twenty eight species are reported on ornamental plants extensively in the southern coast of the Caspian Sea: A. nerii, C. hesperidum, C. dictyospermi, P. oleae, P. citri.

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