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The Identity of a Mealybug Vector of “Swollen Shoot” Virus Disease of Cacao in West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. J. Hall
W. J. Hall
Affiliation:
Imperial Institute of Entomology.
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Extract

A new mealybug injurious to cacao in the Gold Coast was described by Laing in 1944 under the name of Pseudococcus exitiabilis (Bull. ent. Res., 35, p. 91). It was said that it had been reported by the collector, Mr. H. E. Box, to be one of the Coccid vectors of the “Swollen Shoot” virus disease of Cacao. This was later confirmed by Box (Nature, 155, 1945, p. 608).

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , September 1946 , pp. 305 - 313
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1946

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References

* Mr. Strickland in particular is to be congratulated on the large amount of interesting material that he has collected.

* Mr. Box reports that this was the only material found during an extensive Search covering the cacao areas of Nigeria.

* The same unit for comparative measurements has been used throughout this paper.

* This tree is an obligatory myrmecophyte, inhabited by ants of the genus Crematogaster those from Bunsu and Bosuso having been identified by Mr. Donisthorpe as C. (Atopogyne) cuvierae, Donis., which also inhabits Cuviera acutiflora in the Gold Coast. In young Canthium trees, up to about 6 ft. high, the ant colonies appear to be confined to the hollow stems, within which they cultivate colonies of the mealybugs. Mature trees, which reach 30 ft. or more in height, support ant colonies inside the hollow trunk and in all lateral branches, including the smallest, as well as in large hard carton nests constructed on the outside of the main trunk. Near these outside nests can generally be found small isolated colonies of the mealybugs, protected by loose carton coverings made by the ants, in cracks and crevices in the bark. Mealybugs from these “outside” colonies are less numerous, but noticeably larger, than those from colonies inside the trunk and branches. (Communicated by H. E. Box.)