Species Beesonia ferrugineus (Froggatt, 1921)
- Sphaerococcus ferrugineus Froggatt, W.W. 1921. A descriptive catalogue of the scale insects ('Coccidae') of Australia. Part III. Science Bulletin, Department of Agriculture, New South Wales 19: 1-43 [10].
Distribution
IBRA
NSW, Qld: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Wet Tropics (WT)
Australian Region
- Australia
- New South Wales
- Queensland
Ecological Descriptors
Sap-feeder.
SYSTEMATICS
Miller, D.R., Gullan, P.J. & Williams, D.J. 1998. Family placement of species previously included in the scale insect genus Sphaerococcus Maskell (Hemiptera: Coccoidea). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 100: 286–305 studied this species and indicated that its correct family placement was questionable. It forms very distinctive galls that resemble those formed by species of Beesoniidae. Mature females have shallowly invaginated quinquelocular pores (like in species of Beesoniidae and some Eriococcidae) and large bases to the clypeolabral shield (like Beesoniidae). While assigning this species to the Beesoniidae, Miller et al. (1998) indicated that young adult females and first-instar nymph are needed before the family placement can be confirmed. Miller et al. (1998) clearly assigned this species to the Beesoniidae but with no generic placement. For technical reasons the species is placed in the type genus of Beesoniidae.
STRUCTURE
Froggatt, W.W. 1921. A descriptive catalogue of the scale insects ('Coccidae') of Australia. Part III. Science Bulletin, Department of Agriculture, New South Wales 19: 1–43 described the galls formed by this species as "Forming reddish brown to dull green rounded fluffy excrescenses, composed of many fine filaments or bracts radiating from the basal gall, on the side or tip of the branches of several species of Melaleuca…" The adult female was described by Froggatt (1921) as "… dark reddish-brown, marked with dull yellow on the dorsal surface, and is embedded in the central woody cavity. General form oval, dorsal surface conical…"