RED DATE-PALM SCALE, PHOENICOCOCCUS MARLATTI: 
A TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION 
By Harold Morrison 1 
Assistant Entomologist , Tropical and Subttopical Fruit Insect Investigations , Bureau 
of Entomology , United States Department of Agriculture 
The accumulation of information concerning the identity and distri¬ 
bution of Phoenicococcus marlalti Ckll., the biology of which is discussed 
by Borden (26), 2 has been largely due to the efforts of American ento¬ 
mologists and botanists interested either in the insect itself or in the 
introduction of the date palm into the United States. An examination 
of the specimens from which this species was described, preserved in the 
National Collection of Coccidae, shows that it was first collected by Dr. 
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Fig. 1. Present known distribution of the red date-palm scale (Phoenicococcus marlalti ). the records based 
on specimens examined being indicated by large black dots and those based on published records of the 
occurrence of the species by small black dots. 
C. L. Marlatt on August 7, 1890, on young date palms imported probably 
from Algeria and held at the time in the grounds of the Department of 
Agriculture in Washington. Subsequently the species has been recorded 
on many, if not all, of the importations of date palm plants from North 
Africa and Arabia. The National Collection of Coccidae at present includes 
specimens from the following definite localities, these being indicated by 
large round dots on the accompanying distribution map (fig. 1). 
Asia.— Bussorah, Arabian Gulf, specimens collected at Washington, D. C., June 
9, 1905; Haifa, Palestine, specimens collected at Washington, D. C., January 30, 
1912, by E. R. Sasscer on S. P. I. No. 32721 3 (75). 
1 The drawings illustrating the structural characteristics of the insect described herein have been 
prepared by Emily Morrison, of the Bureau of Entomology, and the two photographic illustrations by 
E. R. Sasscer, of the Federal Horticultural Board. 
* Reference is made by number (italic) to “Literature cited,” p. G 47 -G 7 G. 
8 Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction accession number. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
(669) 
Vol. XXI, No. 9 
Aug. 1, 1921 
