Scale Insect (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) Pests of Papaya (Carica papaya) in Brazil

Scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) are widely distributed sap-feeding insects that damage a wide variety of plants, and reduce the productivity and commercial value of many crops, including fruits such as papaya (Carica papaya). These pests cause direct and indirect damage to papaya and other plants, and some species of this group are of quarantine importance and, thus, affect export and import of papaya fruit. To determine which species of scale insects commonly occur on papaya in Brazil, a survey of the scale insects on this crop was conducted over four years in commercial orchards located in the principal production regions of papaya in this country. Six species of scale insects were collected: Aonidiella comperei McKenzie, Coccus hesperidum L., Dysmicoccus grassii (Leonardi), Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley, a Pseudococcus species, and Selenaspidus articulatus (Morgan). The armored scale A. comperei often causes severe damage to the crop and was the most common and widely distributed scale insect species found on papaya in Brazil in this study. This is the first report of A. comperei on papaya in the States of Bahia, Ceara, Minas Gerais, and Paraiba, and of Co. hesperidum on papaya in Bahia, Ceara, and Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Information on the geographic distribution of scale insects that have been recorded on papaya worldwide and in Brazil is summarized.