Saissetia oleae Coccoidea

Saissetia oleae (Olivier) (Fig. 42, distribution map Fig. 93M) Coccus oleae Olivier, 1791: 95. Saissetia oleae (Olivier); Cockerell 1901: 31. Parasaissetia oleae (Olivier); Ezzat & Hussein 1969: 413. Saissetia oleae (Olivier); De Lotto 1971: 149. Field characteristics: Live mature adult females nearly circular, becoming very convex dorsally and flattened ventrally, dark brown to blackish brown with rough surface. Nymphs and young adult females with raised “H” pattern on dorsum, but this disappears in mature adult female. Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female body broadly oval; widest at abdomen, with shallow stigmatic clefts. Anal cleft moderately deep. Dorsum. Mature adult female with derm relatively thick, and with numerous small oval areolations, each containing a minute pore and filament. Setae robust, spiniform, slightly blunt at apex, scattered. Preopercular pores variable in number, present anterior to anal plates. Small discoidal pores sparsely scattered over dorsum. Tubular ducts absent. Submarginal duct tubercles present, few. Anal plates together quadrate, each plate triangular, with a large discal seta in addition to 2 apical setae. Anal ring bearing 8 setae. Margin. Marginal setae of 2 sizes present; numbering fewer than 12 blunt or only slightly frayed setae on each side between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts. Each stigmatic cleft with 3 unequal setae; median seta about 4 times longer than lateral setae, slightly curved and with blunt at apex. Venter. Derm entirely membranous. Pregenital disc-pores mostly each with 10 loculi, concentrated around anogenital fold, and present across all preceding abdominal segments. Spiracular disc-pores each with 5 loculi, present in a row 1 or 2 pores wide between each spiracle and margin. Microducts present throughout. Tubular ducts of 1 type, with slender inner ductule and terminal gland, present in submarginal band. Three pregenital segments each with a pair of long setae; also 2 pairs of long and 2−4 pairs of short setae between antennal bases; other setae small and scattered. Antennae each with 8 segments. Legs well developed, with tibio-tarsal articulation, and articulatory sclerosis sometimes weakly developed; claw without denticle; claw digitules both broad and slightly shorter than tarsal digitules. Distribution: Saissetia oleae may be of Mediterranean origin; it is now cosmopolitan (García Morales et al. 2016). In Iran, it was found in Gilan and Tehran provinces (Kaussari 1957). Host-plants: The species is highly polyphagous, having been recorded on host-plants belonging to 81 families (García Morales et al. 2016). In Iran, it has been found on Nerium oleander (Apocynaceae) and Olea europaea (Oleaceae) (Moghaddam 2013). Economic importance: There have been some records of S. oleae causing damage to Olea europaea in Gilan province, Rooddbar. Natural enemies: In Iran, on olive trees in Gilan province, Roodbar, Saissetia oleae is attacked by the parasitoid wasps Coccophagus sp. (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and Microterys sp. (Encyrtidae); also by the predators Chilocorus bipustulatus (L.), Exochomus nigromaculatus (Goeze), Pharoscymnus pharoides Marseul, Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (L.), Pullus sp. and Scymnus sp. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), and the fungal pathogen Cephalosporium lecanii (Zimmerman) (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) (Ahmad 1975).