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Native to East Africa, the giant African snail Lissachatina [=Achatina] fulica (Bowdich, 1822) is a tropical crop pest and one of the world’s top 100 invasive species. It is now present in at least 52 countries worldwide, with an actively expanding range. Lissachatina fulica was first introduced to India in 1847, but subsequent arrivals in India and local patterns of spread remain unclear. This study uses the 16S rRNA gene to identify the extent of genetic variation in India by sampling Indian populations and comparing them with published sequence data. A total of 307 snails were collected from 178 localities in India and from a single locality in the UAE, and the 16S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced. Eight haplotypes were identified from India of which four are newly recognized. The new haplotypes identified in this study have increased the number of L. fulica 16S rRNA haplotypes from 19 to 23. Examination of haplotype and nucleotide diversities revealed that genetic variation is low in India, the UAE and across Asia as a whole. The number of haplotypes was higher in India when compared to other invasive regions but all of the Asian haplotypes appear to be closely related to the most common haplotypes in the Indian Ocean Islands. Heavy trade between the snail-infested and native-range countries suggests that the variation observed in India might be traced back to its native range, but the lack of sampling and paucity of sequences from East Africa currently prevents a comparison. Tracing back the emergent haplotypes by additional sampling could throw more light on the spread of L. fulica.

The rapidly spreading Giant African Snail Lissachatina [=Achatina] fulica (Bowdich, 1822) has been introduced to many parts of the world since the 1800s and is one of the world’s most invasive species. We compared cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences from four invasive ranges: India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China and West Africa. Sixteen distinct haplotypes were identified, with nine found in India, four in the UAE, one in China and four in West Africa. Haplotype 5 was the most common haplotype in Asia and haplotype 1 the most common in West Africa. Network analysis suggests that all haplotypes in India, the UAE, China and West Africa were derived from the most common haplotype 5 which is present in all three invasive ranges in Asia. Higher levels of genetic variation were observed in the invasive ranges of Asia than in West Africa. The high genetic variation observed in Asia, together with high levels of trade as exemplified by wood import data, supports the hypothesis that there could have been multiple invasion events in India and the UAE. Additional sampling from the native and invasive ranges in Africa and from other regions of invasion is essential for understanding the movement and spread of L. fulica.

Formicococcus Takahashi 1928 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 52462B3D-80E2-4729-85E0-E952839A44FB Type species: Formicococcus cinnamomi Takahashi Generic diagnosis (adapted from Williams, 2004). Anal lobe bar present. Cerarii basically numbering 18 pairs; auxiliary setae present or absent. Sometimes 1 or 2 pairs of cerarii on thorax indistinct, but preopercular pair (C 2) always present. Anal lobe cerarii each bearing 2 or more cererian setae, each seta conical or with a flagellate tip. Anterior abdominal cerarii each usually with more than 2 conical or flagellate setae; if with only 2, then auxiliary setae often present. Cerarii on head and thorax either with 2 or more conical or flagellate setae and a group of trilocular pores. Cerarii all with at least 1 or 2 trilocular pores next to setal collar, or, if with only 2 enlarged setae, then sometimes associated with slender auxiliary setae. Antennae each 6���8 segmented. Legs well developed, with translucent pores on hind coxa and often on hind tibia, sometimes also present on hind femur; often tibia + tarsus shorter than trochanter + femur. Claw stout, without a denticle. Dorsal setae often short and stiff, slender or conical, or sometimes long and flagellate, rarely stout. Cisanal and obanal setae always conspicuous. Ostioles prominent. Circulus present or absent. Anal ring bearing 6 basic setae; sometimes with multiple setae (as in F. dispersus Williams, 2004) but if so, then usually 6 setae longer than others. Anal ring either situated at apex of abdomen or slightly dorsal in position. Multilocular disc pores present, at least on venter of abdomen. Oral collar tubular ducts present, at least on venter of abdomen, sometimes also around margins of head and thorax. Microducts present or absent., Published as part of Joshi, Sunil, Jose, Bindu K., Gullan, Penny, Sajeev, T. V. & Anoop, E. V., 2020, A new species of mealybug (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) from Tectona grandis L. f. (Lamiaceae) in southern India, pp. 391-400 in Zootaxa 4718 (3) on page 393, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4718.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/3602550, {"references":["Takahashi, R. (1928) Coccidae of Formosa (2). Transactions of the Natural History Society of Formosa, Taihoku, 18, 253 - 261.","Williams, D. J. (2004) Mealybugs of southern Asia. The Natural History Museum, London, and Southdene SDN, BHD, Kuala Lumpur, 896 pp."]}

Formicococcus lingnani (Ferris) revived combination Planococcus lingnani Ferris 1954: 52. Planococcoides lingnani Williams 1970: 163. Change of combination. Formicococcus lingnani Williams 2004: 290. Change of combination. Paraputo lingnani Danzig & Gavrilov-Zimin 2015: 18. Change of combination. Formicococcus lingnani was redescribed by Williams (1970) from material collected from Malaysia, China and Thailand; he found these materials to be in agreement with the original material from China, with minor morphological differences, hence in Williams (2004) he made two illustrations based on specimens from China and Thailand. He further suggested inclusion of this species in Exallomochlus Williams because of the presence of a sclerotized area on the dorsum and venter of each anal lobe, but retained it in Formicococcus because of the presence of anal lobe bars each connected to an anal lobe bar seta. The species has been collected on Cyperus rotundus L. (Cyperaceae) and Areca catechu L. (Arecaceae) from Karnataka, India (S. Joshi, unpublished data). Danzig & Gavrilov-Zimin (2015) transferred the species to Paraputo Laing because it has 6 anal ring setae, which is not justifiable based on the facts provided on the revived combination of F. robustus in the discussion above. The only molecular phylogenetic study (Hardy et al. 2008) that has included examples of Paraputo found that the sampled African species was not related to the sampled Neotropical species. There appear to have been no molecular phylogenetic studies including species of Formicococcus. The taxonomy of Formicococcus and Paraputo may change in the future if informative new data become available; however, the stability of nomenclature is important to users and changes should be avoided unless there is strong justification., Published as part of Joshi, Sunil, Jose, Bindu K., Gullan, Penny, Sajeev, T. V. & Anoop, E. V., 2020, A new species of mealybug (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) from Tectona grandis L. f. (Lamiaceae) in southern India, pp. 391-400 in Zootaxa 4718 (3) on page 394, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4718.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/3602550, {"references":["Ferris, G. F. (1954) Report upon scale insects collected in China (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Part V. (Contribution No. 89). Microentomology, 19, 51 - 66.","Williams, D. J. (1970) The mealybugs (Homoptera, Coccoidea, Pseudococcidae) of sugar-cane, rice and sorghum. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 60, 109 - 188. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0007485300034209","Williams, D. J. (2004) Mealybugs of southern Asia. The Natural History Museum, London, and Southdene SDN, BHD, Kuala Lumpur, 896 pp.","Danzig, E. M. & Gavrilov-Zimin, I. A. (2015) Palaearctic mealybugs (Homoptera: Coccinea: Pseudococcidae). Part 2. Subfamily Pseudococcinae. Russian Academy of Sciences, Zoological Institute, St. Petersburg, 619 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.31610 / zsr / 2015.24.2.236","Hardy, N. B., Gullan, P. J. & Hodgson, C. J. (2008) A subfamily-level classification of mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) based on integrated molecular and morphological data. Systematic Entomology, 33, 51 - 71. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 3113.2007.00408. x"]}

Formicococcus robustus (Ezzat & McConnell) revived combination Planococcoides robustus Ezzat & McConnell, 1956: 59. Indococcus pipalae Ali, 1967: 35. Dysmicoccus cucurbitae Avasthi & Shafee, 1986: 437. Planococcoides bengalensis Ghosh & Ghose, 1988: 604. Ferrisicoccus cucurbitae, Tang, 1992: 286. Change of combination. Ferrisicoccus psidii Mukhopadhyay & Ghose, 1994: 71. Formicococcus robustus Williams, 2004: 307. Change of combination. Paraputo robustus, Danzig & Gavrilov-Zimin 2015: 18. Change of combination. The species was described and illustrated by Ezzat & McConnell (1956) based on a single adult female found on mango, Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae) imported into the U.S.A. from India and intercepted in New York. The four junior synonyms of this species are all based on specimens collected in India; for a full synonymy with collection data and depositories for type specimens, refer to ScaleNet (García Morales et al. 2016). When Williams (2004) revised the genus Formicococcus, he examined many specimens of F. robustus from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and provided a revised description, two illustrations of the adult females from different collections, and discussed the morphology. Danzig & Gavrilov-Zimin (2015) transferred the species to Paraputo Laing because it has 6 anal ring setae; they restricted the definition of Formicococcus to species with more than 6 anal ring setae, although they transferred only two species of Formicococcus, viz., F. robustus and F. lingnani (known from India) to Paraputo. However, as discussed by Williams (2004) and Zhang & Wu (2017), the number of anal ring setae is not a robust genus-level character, especially as the number of setae can vary between the two sides of the anal ring. Furthermore, in both genera there are 6 basic anal ring setae and, if more are present, the extra setae are usually short and slender and variable in position. Adult females of Formicococcus and Paraputo are morphologically similar and these genera clearly are related, but have been distinguished by the presence (Formicococcus) or absence (Paraputo) of the anal lobe bar (Williams 2004; Zhang & Wu 2017). Formicococcus robustus and the other seven species of this genus known from India each have anal lobe bars. The type species of Formicococcus, F. cinnamomi Takahashi, is from Taiwan (Takahashi 1928; Ezzat & McConnell 1956; Tu et al. 1988), whereas the type species of Paraputo, now called P. anomalus (Newstead), is from Africa (and was redescribed by Williams 1958)., Published as part of Joshi, Sunil, Jose, Bindu K., Gullan, Penny, Sajeev, T. V. & Anoop, E. V., 2020, A new species of mealybug (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) from Tectona grandis L. f. (Lamiaceae) in southern India, pp. 391-400 in Zootaxa 4718 (3) on page 393, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4718.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/3602550, {"references":["Ezzat, Y. M. & McConnell, H. S. (1956) A classification of the mealybug tribe Planococcini (Pseudococcidae: Homoptera). Bulletin of the Maryland Agriculture Experiment Station, A- 84, 1 - 108.","Ali, S. M. (1967) Description of a new and records of some known coccids (Homoptera) from Bihar, India. Oriental Insects, 1, 29 - 43. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00305316.1967.10433849","Avasthi, R. K. & Shafee, S. A. (1986) Another new species of mealybug genus Dysmicoccus Ferris (Homoptera, Pseudococcidae) from India. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 59, 435 - 438.","Ghosh, L. C. & Ghose, S. K. (1988) A new species of the genus Planococcoides (Homoptera, Pseudococcidae) with descriptions of all the instars of female and male. Environment & Ecology, 6, 604 - 610.","Tang, F. T. (1992) The Pseudococcidae of China. Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi, 768 pp.","Mukhopadhyay, A. K. & Ghose, S. K. (1994) A new guava mealybug, Ferrisicoccus psidii n. sp. (Pseudococcidae, Homoptera) from south India. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Calcutta, 47, 71 - 73.","Williams, D. J. (2004) Mealybugs of southern Asia. The Natural History Museum, London, and Southdene SDN, BHD, Kuala Lumpur, 896 pp.","Danzig, E. M. & Gavrilov-Zimin, I. A. (2015) Palaearctic mealybugs (Homoptera: Coccinea: Pseudococcidae). Part 2. Subfamily Pseudococcinae. Russian Academy of Sciences, Zoological Institute, St. Petersburg, 619 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.31610 / zsr / 2015.24.2.236","Garcia Morales, M., Denno, B. D., Miller, D. R., Miller, G. L., Ben-Dov, Y. & Hardy, N. B. (2016) ScaleNet: a literature-based model of scale insect biology and systematics. Database, 2016, bav 118. Available from: http: // scalenet. info (accessed 20 June 2019) https: // doi. org / 10.1093 / database / bav 118","Zhang, J. - T. & Wu, S. A. (2017) A study of the genus Paraputo Laing, 1929 of China, with description of two new species (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Coccomorpha). ZooKeys, 709, 57 - 70. https: // doi. org / 10.3897 / zookeys. 709.15161","Takahashi, R. (1928) Coccidae of Formosa (2). Transactions of the Natural History Society of Formosa, Taihoku, 18, 253 - 261.","Tu, W., Wu, W. & Lee, P. (1988) Planococcini of Taiwan (Homoptera: Pseudoccidae). Annual of Taiwan Museum, 31, 71 - 101.","Williams, D. J. (1958) Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae: Homoptera) described by W. M. Maskell, R. Newstead, T. D. A. Cockerell and E. E. Green from the Ethiopian region. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology, 6, 205 - 236."]}

Scientist E1 Kerala forest research institute Peechi, 680 653 , Thrissur ABSTRACT Teak defoliator (Hyblaea puera Cramer) outbreak happens in teak (Tectona grandis) plantations with ten- der foliage. Present study identified biochemical and volatile profile of teak tender leaves as opposed to mature leaf in different seasons, so as to identify the cues detected by the female moth to identify tender teak leaves. In biochemical analysis, there was no significant difference in oil, ash, total sugar, reducing sugars and non reducing sugars. Six volatiles compounds were present in the tender foliage; while only two were found in the mature teak leaves. Tender teak leaves analyzed during pre-outbreak, outbreak and post outbreak showed the presence of six, six and one volatile respectively. Through this study it is understood that host plant recognition in Teak defoliator is mediated by the cocktail of volatile compounds. Development of the right combination of the volatiles and behavioral testing using it would open new avenues in controlling incipient outbreak.

Hyblaea puera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HpNPV) is a potential biocontrol agent against the teak defoliator H. puera (Cramer) (Lepidoptera: Hyblaeidae). As part of optimization of the mass production of this nucleopolyhedrovirus, three methods of inoculation were evaluated against the host larvae with various yield parameters as selection criteria. The inoculation methods compared were controlled dose on diet in rearing tubes using a micropipette, controlled dose on leaf discs (prepared from teak leaves) using a micropipette and spraying onto diet filled rearing tubes using an atomizer. Fifth instar H. puera larvae of the weight classes 75-100, 101-125, 126-150, 151-175 and 176-200mg were used for the bioassay. With reference to percentage of harvested larvae, virus production per larva and virus production per inoculated larva (VPIL), spraying viral suspension into rearing tubes filled with artificial diet using a hand sprayer was found to be the most efficient method of inoculation. It was observed that the method of inoculation and age of the larvae has discrete as well as interactive influence on the virus yield parameters.

Hyblaea puera nucleoployhedrovirus (HpNPV) is a potential biocontrol agent of the teak defoliator, Hyblaea puera (Cramer) (Lepidoptera: Hyblaeidae). To quantify the growth of the virus in the host larvae, three larval stages of the teak defoliator were subjected to quantitative bioassays using specified dilutions of HpNPV. The HpNPV production was found to be dependent on the dose, incubation period as well as stage specific responses of the host insect used. As larvae matured, production of the virus per mg body weight was not found to be in a constant proportion to the increase in the body weight. The combination which yielded the greatest virus production of 3.55 x 10(9) polyhedral occlusion bodies (POBs) was that in which larva weighing 26-37 mg was fed with 1 x 10(6) POBs, incubated for 6 h and harvested at 72 h post infection (h p.i.). The response of the fourth instar larvae was found to be more productive than the third and fifth instar larvae, which makes it an ideal candidate for mass production of the virus in vivo.