Pine bast scale

Matsucoccus matsumurae (Kuwana) (Hemiptera: Matsucoccidae)

Orientation to pest

Pine bast scale, Matsucoccus matsumurae (Kuwana), (formerly referred to as red pine scale, Matsucoccus resinosae, in the USA) is a Japanese scale that is invasive in the United States. Along with six Asian species of pines, it attacks red pine (Pinus resinosa Sol. ex Aiton), its only native North American host. It occurs in plantations of red pine planted south of their native range in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The infested area is expanding slowly.

Hosts commonly attacked

Pine bast scale attacks several Asian pines, but its only North American native host is red pine (P. resinosa).

Distribution

This scale is native to Japan and is invasive in China, South Korea, Sweden, and eastern North America.

Images of pine bast scale

USDA APHIS PPQ CPHST768x512

Figure 1. Pine bast scale, Matsucoccus matsumurae

Important biological control agents related to this pest species

Natural enemies associated with pine bast scale in North America are principally generalist predators (coccinellids, anthocorid bugs, and cecidomyiid flies). In China, predation on eggs and young nymphs by the anthocorid Elatophilus nipponensis Hiura is a critical factor affecting the pest. Also in both China and Japan, the generalist predatory coccinellid Harmonia axyridis Pallas is believed to suppress this scale's density. This coccinellid in now found as an invasive species throughout the range of red pine scale in the northeast United States but definitive studies on its impact on this scale are lacking.

Web links for information on pine bast scale

• Species Catalog on ScaleNet
  Complete list of all recorded natural enemies, hosts, and distribution records; also an index to all publications on this species

Articles

• Cheng, H. Y. and W. J. Ming. 1979. Population dynamics and biological control of Matsucoccus matsumurae Kuwana (Homoptera: Margarodidae). Acta Entomologica Sinica 22: 149-155.
• McClure, M. S. 1986. Role of predators in regulation of endemic populations of Matsucoccus matsumurae (Homoptera: Margarodidae) in Japan. Environmental Entomology 15: 976-983.
• Ming, W. J., Q. J. Ge, and H. Y. Zheng. 1983. Studies of some major predaceous natural enemies of Matsucoccus matsumurae (Kuwana ). Journal of Nanjing Technological College of Forest Products 3: 19-29.