Abstract:

Physokermes shanxiensis Tang is a newly found pest of ornamental plants in China. In recent years it has caused serious damage to Picea meyeri in the central part of Shanxi Province, China. In this paper, its hosts, distribution and damage to Picea meyeri are reported; the morphology of immature stages are described and the bionomics is observed. The result shows that this scale develops one generation a year in Taigu county, Shanxi Province, overwinters on 1-year old twigs and needles in second nymphal stage, adult females and males emerge in early\|April and late-April respectively, and the feeding or damaging peak is from early-April to mid-May. They reproduce bisexually. Each female lays 15～1143 eggs, 602.3 on an average. The natural enemies include Harmonia oxyridis(Pallas) and Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus), the former one is more important. Besides, the control measures are also proposed.

Key words: Physokermes shanxiensis, Morphology, Bionomics, New pest on ornamental plants