An update on mealybugs and scale insects (Hemiptera) on native epiphytic orchids in South Florida, including a new record for Pseudococcus microcirculus (Pseudococcidae)

We provide the first published record that populations of the orchid mealybug, Pseudococcus microcirculus McKenzie (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), occur on epiphytic orchids in both the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the Fakahatchee Swamp in the Big Cypress Basin eco-region of South Florida. In California, this mealybug has been a pest of orchids in greenhouses and was the target of state quarantine and eradication efforts in 1962. To date, no published records have documented P. microcirculus on orchids in either California's or Florida's natural habitats. In 2013, 322 epiphytic orchids were surveyed to document scale and mealybug levels. Pseudococcus microcirculus was found on 5 endangered epiphytic orchid taxa, and 8 (2.5%) individual plants harbored another greenhouse pest, Boisduval scale Diaspis boisduvalii Signoret (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), a species sometimes associated with orchids. How these invasive species were able to establish in these State-protected regions is unknown. With active orchid restoration efforts currently underway in these and other important orchid habitats, efforts should be made to prevent the further spread of these plant parasites.