Species: Antonina graminis (Maskell) - Catalog

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Common name: Rhodesgrass scale Field Characters: Body broadly oval to circular; rotund in lateral view; body dark purple or brown; without lateral wax filaments; enclosed in a white, felted sac that turns yellow with age; usually with a long, slender, white waxy tube protruding through a hole in the ovisac at the posterior end of the body. Usually present on the crown or nodes of the grass host. Ovoviviparous, first instars are cream colored. Legs absent.
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Validation Characters: Legs absent or represented by sclerotized pockets; antennae reduced to 2 or 3 segments; spiracles with trilocular pores only, present in sclerotized band surrounding spiracular atrium; clusters of discoidal pores in ventrosubmarginal areas of abdominal segments II or III to VII or VIII; without dorsal and dorsomarginal band of multilocular pores; abdominal segments not forming sclerotized plate-like structures on segments III or IV to VIII; anal ring at apex of internal tube. Comparison: Antonina graminis differs from other species of Antonina by having the multilocular pores confined to the ventral area mesad of the discoidal pore clusters and lacking plate-like structures on the anterior abdominal segments. U.S. quarantine notes: This species is commonly taken on a diversity of grass hosts, but is rarely collected on bamboos. It is taken in quarantine from nearly any warm part of the world where grasses are grown. Several species of Antonina other than A. graminis and A. nakaharai have been taken at US ports-of-entry including: A. pretiosa Ferris (Burma, China, Cuba, and the Philippines on bamboo), A. purpurea Signoret (France and Italy on various grasses), and A. zonata Green (China on bamboo). References: WilliaWa1988a; WilliaMi2002; HendriKo1999; WilliaGr1992. All references mentioning: Antonina graminis
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