Abstract
The buff coconut mealybug, Nipaecoccus nipae (Maskell) (Pseudococcidae: Hemiptera), was recorded on tender feeder roots of coconut seedlings at Kayamkulam, Kerala, India. N. nipae was not located on any other arboreal parts of palm including foliage. This is a new distributional record of the pest in Kerala, South India. The concealed nature of the pest on underground feeder roots of coconut seedlings warrants thorough examination at the seedling distribution point of coconut seedlings in order to prevent the spread of this pest to other free zones of the country. Re-emergence of the pest is reported in India after a time gap of 100 years.
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Acknowledgments
Authors thank Dr. Sunil Joshi, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Bengaluru, for providing key identification characters of the pest. We gratefully acknowledge the valuable suggestions of anonymous referees for improving the quality and content of the manuscript.
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Josephrajkumar, A., Rajan, P., Mohan, C. et al. New distributional record of buff coconut mealybug (Nipaecoccus nipae) in Kerala, India. Phytoparasitica 40, 533–535 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-012-0260-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-012-0260-2