Aspidiotus is a genus of armoured scale insects. It includes several agricultural and horticultural pests.
A. destructor was originally blamed for a massive die-off of coconut trees in the Philippines which began about 2009. It has been involved previously in die-offs in Indonesia. In July 2014, following a detailed morphological review, scientists announced that instead A. rigidus, was to blame. A. rigidus has few natural predators in the Philippines which leads to the surging infestation.
Species
Aspidiotus anningensis Tang & Chu, 1983
Aspidiotus artus Munting, 1971
Aspidiotus atomarius (Hall, 1946) Aspidiotus atripileus Munting, 1971 Aspidiotus beilschmiediae Takagi, 1969 Aspidiotus brachystegiae Hall, 1928 Aspidiotus capensis Newstead, 1917 Aspidiotus cerasi Fitch, 1857 Aspidiotus chamaeropsis Signoret, 1869 Aspidiotus chinensis Kuwana & Muramatsu, 1931 Aspidiotus cryptomeriae Kuwana, 1902 - Sugi scale Aspidiotus destructor Cockerell in Fernald, 1903 - coconut scale Aspidiotus hedericola Leonardi, 1920 Aspidiotus nerii Bouché, 1833 - oleander scale, worldwide distribution, originated in Europe Aspidiotus rigidus Reyne, 1947 Aspidiotus taiyuanensis (Feng, 2011) Aspidiotus zizyphi Hall, 1929
Former species
Aspidiotus abieticola Koroneos, 1934 synonym for Dynaspidiotus abieticola (Koroneos, 1934) Aspidiotus hederae Leonardi, 1898 synonym for Aspidiotus nerii Bouché, 1833 Aspidiotus ostreaeformis Curtis, 1843 synonym for Diaspidiotus ostreaeformis (Curtis, 1843)