Pest Alert(USA):A Bamboo Mealybug - Palmicultor lumpurensis

[Mark Meckes]

(Edit note: Palmicultor lumpurensis also listed as Trionymus lumpurensis)
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Reprinted from the website of the
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & CONSUMER SERVICES
Division of Plant Industry

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Bamboo species - Bambusa oldhamii,
Commn Names - `Ole Hammi' , Oldham's Bamboo
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A Bamboo Mealybug
Palmicultor lumpurensis Takahashi
Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae

Greg Hodges, Taxonomic Entomologist

INTRODUCTION: Division of Plant Industry inspector Barbara Wilder collected this new Continental US Record on August 12, 2002 in Lake Buena Vista, Orange Co. The host plant was Bambusa sp. ‘Olhammi’. Since that date, surveys have found additional infestations of this mealybug on Bambusa sp. ‘Ole Hammi’.* The following information was summarized from Takahashi 1950 and Ben Dov 1994.

DESCRIPTION: Adult and immature stages of this mealybug are grayish-pink to red in color. Individuals lack lateral wax filaments and are covered by a fine, white, mealy wax (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). The mealybugs are found beneath the sheaths of the bamboo. Slight to moderate infestations may not be easily recognized. Once populations explode, infestations are easy to spot with large amounts of white wax being visible on the external portions of the leaf sheaths (Fig. 1).

SIMILAR MEALYBUGS: This mealybug superficially resembles the pink hibiscus mealybug by having a pinkish body and lacking lateral wax filaments. It should be noted that bamboo is not a host for the pink hibiscus mealybug.

BIOLOGY: There is very little known about the biology of this mealybug species. The original description of this insect in 1951 listed no biological data. This mealybug is native to warm climates and like many mealybugs, it will more than likely have multiple generations throughout a given year.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE:It is impossible to predict the overall economic significance of this pest on bamboo at this time. Heavy infestations of this mealybug have the potential to cause an abortion of new shoots.

DISTRIBUTION: This bamboo mealybug is recorded from two regions--Australasian: Australia (personal communique with Dr. Doug Miller USDA-ARS); Oriental: Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam--and in Florida where the only known infestations are in Orange County.

REFERENCES:
Ben Dov, Y. 1994. A systematic catalogue of the mealybugs of the world. Intercept unlimited. 686 p.

Takahashi, R. 1950. Some mealybugs (Pseudococcidae: Homoptera) from the Malay peninsula. The Indian Journal of Entomology, Vol. XII (1): 12-15.
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Photos:
Fig. 1.(left thumbnail) Infested bamboo showing mealy wax
Fig. 2.(middle thumbnail) Palmicultor lumpurensis with mealy wax
Fig. 3.(right thumbnail) Adult female of Palmicultor lumpurensis

Photography credits: Jeffrey Lotz, FDACS-DPI.

[Mark Meckes]

October 2004
The bamboo mealybug Palmicultor lumpurensis has been observed growing on bamboo spp in central to southern regions of Texas.
It has recently been observed and identified on bamboo plants in a public park in Travis County TX.

The following plants had the mealybug Palmicultor lumpurensis:
Bambusa beecheyana
Bambusa multiplex see article/photos
Bambusa oldhamii see article/photos
Bambusa textilis see article/photos
Bambusa tuldoides `Ventricosa' see article/photos

Palmicultor lumpurensis may have arrived with a new planting (2003) of Bambusa tuldoides `Ventricosa'.
The greatest damage (severe stunting of new shoots) was most apparent on B.oldhamii and B. beecheyana, which were growing within close proximity of the B.tuldoides `Ventricosa'.
This mealy bug appeared most prominently in the tips of the sheath blades on the newly emergong shoots, feeding on the outer culm walls, increasing in numbers as the sheath gradually becames detached from the culm.

Bambusa multiplex and Bambusa textilis, which were growing more then 100ft away appear to have been inhabited a little later, during a more advance stage of their new shoot growth.

It is not known if this mealybug has thrived because of a relatively mild previous winter (2003-2004),with temperatures seldom dipping below freezing, followed by a spring/summer of higher then average rainfall/humidity).

Cold tolerance /potential distribution of Palmicultor lumpurensis is not known.

Mark Meckes
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