A new species of mealybug (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) from critically endangered Banksia montana in Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 6 years ago

ABSTRACT – A new species of mealybug, Pseudococcus markharveyi Gullan sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on adult females collected from the critically endangered Banksia montana in the Stirling Range, Western Australia. A population of a possibly conspecific mealybug collected in 1985 from B. heliantha in Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia, has not been recollected despite intensive searches and may also be threatened. The new species is compared with similar mealybugs found in Australia and the Pacific region. Given the immediate threat to the host plant through multiple synergistic forces, namely plant disease, fire and climate change, the new mealybug species should be considered critically endangered.