PSEUDOCOCCUS SACCHARICOLA TAKAHASHI (HEMIPTERA: PSEUDOCOCCIDAE) IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: FIRST WESTERN HEMISPHERE RECORDS, WITH RECORDS OF A CO-OCCURRING LADY BEETLE, HYPERASPIS SCUTIFERA (MULSANT) (COLEOPTERA: COCCINELLIDAE).

The article presents a study on Pseudococcus saccharicola Takahashi collected on Guana Island, nearby Beef Island and Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. The species was first recorded in the Western Hemisphere for its danger to the sugarcane and graminoid crops. This insect feeds on Chloris barbata, swollen fingergrass, and Chloris radiata. The hyperaspidine coccinellid Hyperaspis scutifera was cited as a probable mealybug predator associated with colonies of Pseudococcus saccharicola.