NANOKERMES PUBESCENS (BOGUE)

Kermes pubescens
Coccus pubescens
Talla pubescens

Hosts: Quercus alba, stellata, marilandica, Xdeamii (Q macrocarpa X muehlenbergii), macrocarpa [observations on Quercus bicolor X macrocarpa, lyrata, borealis [rubra], muehlenbergii, prinoides, prinus [montana] listed as "questionable"]

Post-reproductive female. Bogue (1898) described the post-reproductive female as ... spheroidal, 3 1/2 mm. in diameter, 3 high; pointed and grooved beneath; covered all over with short straggling whitish pubescence. Color rather light brown, with more or less obscure and suffused dark brown bands marking the obsolete segments. Surface shining, with minute concolorous specks, but no dark spots or pits.

Remarks. This species has been recorded from 5 species of oaks in the midwestern United States. If the number of citations in the literature is an indication of abundance, then it is very common. Most of the references, however, probably refer to N. folium, new species.

The post-reproductive female is noted for its dorsum, which is covered with short strands of wax that en masse resemble pubescence. This "pubescence" is so remarkably similar in color and texture to the pubescence on the buds of Quercus macrocarpa, and the scale so similar in size to these buds, that the first author has had problems distinguishing scales from buds even when using a dissecting microscope.

- Stephen Bullington, Michael Kosztarab: (1985) Studies on the morphology and systematics of scale insects. No. 12^©