Mealybugs

Mealybugs, stinging and sucking insects, feed on the elaborate sap of their host plant. Currently not presenting a major risk in French vineyards, the presence of these insects can however become worrying because they transmit, through their nutritive bites, the viruses of the vine roll of the vine (GLRaV). They can currently be considered as emerging pests.

Nine species are recorded in the vineyard in France, belonging to three families of cochineals, of which the most important are:

- Coccidae (anc. Lecaniidae) including shelled and flaky mealybugs

• Parthenolecanium corni (Bouché 1844), dogwood and vine lechanine
• Parthenolecanium persicae (Fabricius 1776), peach shell
• Pulvinaria vitis (Linnaeus 1758), vine flake cochineal
• Neopulvinaria innumerabilis (Rathvon 1854), maple flake cochineal

- Pseudococcidae , mealybugs (mealybugs)

• Heliococcus bohemicus Šulc, 1912, Bohemian scale
• Phenacoccus aceris (Signoret, 1875), mealybug of the plane tree and apple tree
• Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret 1875), mealybug (formerly P. affinis )

Classification : Animalia, Arthropoda, Insecta, Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Coccoidea
Synonymy :
English name : mealybug, soft scales, wax scales

Bibliography:

• Binet D, Delbac L, Gaudin J, Thiéry D, Hommay G, Herrbach E (2018) Cochineals in Bordeaux vineyards. Union Girondine des Vins de Bordeaux , 1156, 45-46
• García Morales M, Denno BD, Miller DR, Miller GL, Ben-Dov Y, Hardy NB (2016) ScaleNet: A literature-based model of scale insect biology and systematics. Database. doi: 10.1093/database/bav118, scalenet.info