(Cockerell, 1893)
Diagnosis
Scale cover of adult female in life circular to oval, moderately convex, dark red-brown with subcentral to submarginal exuviae. FURBIFL1.jpg . Scale cover of male smaller than that of female, elongate and parallel-sided, with terminal exuviae. FUBIFL.jpg
Body of slide-mounted adult female membranous, elongate pyriform, about 0.75 mm long, with rounded front to head FUBIFS.jpg . Pygidium broad (subtended by an angle of more than 90°), with paraphyses present, and four pairs of well-developed lobes; fourth lobes prominent; plates separate, not appearing fused, each plate apically chelate. FUBIFP.jpg
Host range
Furcaspis biformis has been recorded from hosts belonging to the plant family Orchidaceae (Borchsenius, 1966). Hosts include species of: Agave sisalana, Brassavola, Brassia, Cattleya spp., Epidendrum, Laelia, Luehea, Miltonia regnelli, Oncidium, Orchidaceae, Pedilanthus, Phaius, Philodendron, Schomburgkia and Vanda.
Affected plant stages: vegetative growing, flowering and fruiting stages
Affected plant parts: leaves and pseudobulbs
Biology and ecology
The biology of F. biformis has not been studied. This species is known to have the Comstockiella chromosome system (Nur, 1990). Crawlers are the primary dispersal stage and move to new areas of the plant or are dispersed by wind or animal contact. Mortality due to abiotic factors is high in this stage. Dispersal of sessile adults and eggs occurs through human transport of infested plant material.
Symptoms
Leaves can become mostly covered by the scales, which exclude light, so impeding photosynthesis FURBIFL1.jpg .
Economic impact
Infestations on orchids are often heavy (Williams and Watson, 1988) FURBIFL1.jpg . Furcaspis biformis is not of any economic importance in USA (Florida) (Dekle, 1976).
Detection and inspection methods
Examine leaves and pseudobulbs of orchids for circular to oval, moderately convex, dark red-brown scale covers, each with with subcentral to submarginal exuviae FURBIFL1.jpg .
Phytosanitary risk
Living orchids are commonly shipped around the world as cut flowers and potted plants. Accidental introduction of F. biformis to countries that mass produce orchids could cause pest problems.
Natural enemies
Predators:
- Aleurodothrips fasciapennis, attacking: eggs, nymphs, adults, in Indonesia; introduced to: Fiji
Distribution
See Furcaspis biformis distribution.
Microscopic examination of slide-mounted adult females is required for authoritative identification to species.
Furcaspis oceanica Lindinger (coconut red scale) FUROCSC.jpg could be misidentified as F. biformis, but differs in lacking the perivulvar pores that are present in F. biformis FUBIFP.jpg. Furcaspis oceanica is known from Micronesia (Caroline Is, Marshall Is, Mariana Is, Guam, Palau Is, Yap Is, Truk Is, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Kusaie) on species of Clinostigma, Cocos nucifera (on which it is an important pest), Nypa and Pandanus (Williams and Watson, 1988). The scale covers are very thick and strong. Heavy infestations of coconut can cause severe leaf dieback (K. Englberger, Plant Protection Micronesia, pers. comm.). Infested leaf FUROCL.jpg ; infested palm FUROCDAM.jpg
Comments
Furcaspis biformis is a tropical species is found mainly in tropical America, but it has been introduced to Hawaii (Williams and Watson, 1988). It is not known from Africa, or from many of the Pacific islands.
Europe
Germany: under glass (Nakahara, 1982)
Asia
Indonesia: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Malaysia: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Philippines: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Singapore: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982; The Natural History Museum collection, London, UK)
Sri Lanka: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Thailand: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Western Hemisphere
Brazil
Bahia: present, no further details (Claps et al., 2001a)
Guanabara: present, no further details (Silva et al., 1968)
Rio de Janeiro: present, no further details (Claps et al., 2001a)
Sao Paulo: present, no further details (Claps et al., 2001a)
Caribbean Islands (many of): present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Central America (most of): present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Colombia: present (Kondo, 2001)
Grenada: The Natural History Museum collection, London, UK
Guyana: The Natural History Museum collection, London, UK
Mexico: present (Miller, 1996)
South America (most of): present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
USA
Colorado: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
District of Colombia: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Florida: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Hawaii: present on Oahu and Molokai (Heu, 2002)
New Jersey: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
West Virginia: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Oceania
Australia: present, no further details (Nakahara, 1982)
Fiji: present (Williams and Watson, 1988)
Tahiti: present, no further details (Williams and Watson, 1988)