Taxonomic information	Current valid scientific name: Nipaecoccus viridisSynonyms: Dactylopius perniciosus, Dactylopius vastator, Dactylopius viridis, Nipaecoccus vastator, Pseudococcus filamentosus var. corymbatus, Pseudococcus perniciosus, Pseudococcus solitarius, Pseudococcus vastator, Pseudococcus viridis, Ripersia theae, Trionymus sericeusName used in the EU legislation: –Order: HemipteraFamily: PseudococcidaeCommon name: spherical mealybug, coffee mealybug, cotton mealybug, globular mealybug, hibiscus mealybug, karoo thorn mealybug, lebbeck mealybugName used in the Dossier: Nipaecoccus viridis
Group	Insects
EPPO code	NIPAVI
Regulated status	Nipaecoccus viridis is not regulated in the EU, neither is listed by EPPO (EPPO, online_a).It is categorised in Turkey (A1 list since 2016) and in countries of Asia and America (EPPO, online_a).
Pest status in Israel	Nipaecoccus viridis is present in Israel (Ben‐Dov, 1994; CABI, online; EPPO, online_b; García Morales et al., online).
Pest status in the EU	Nipaecoccus viridis is absent in the EU (CABI, online; EPPO, online_b; García Morales et al., online).
Host status on Ficus carica	Ficus carica is host of N. viridis (Ben‐Dov, 1994; García Morales et al., online).
PRA information	Pest Risk Assessment available from New Zealand:– Import Risk Analysis: Pears (Pyrus bretschneideri, Pyrus pyrifolia, and Pyrus sp. nr. communis) fresh fruit from China to New Zealand (Tyson et al., 2009).
Other relevant information for the assessment
Biology	Nipaecoccus viridis is probably indigenous to the warm tropical areas of the Indian subcontinent (Franco et al., 2004) and is spread in many parts of the world, mainly in tropics and subtropics (Thomas and Leppla, 2008).Nipaecoccus viridis reproduce both sexually and parthenogenically. Eggs are laid in a large hemispherical ovisac, which usually hide the female (Sharaf and Meyerdirk, 1987). Females lay about 300–500 eggs in their lifetime (Mani and and Shivaraju, 2016) and sometimes more than 1,100 eggs (Bartlett, 1978). The mealybug prefers to feed and reproduce on fast growing tissues like new branches and fruits (Diepenbrock and Burrow, 2020).The development stages of N. viridis are egg, three nymphal instars (for females) and four nymphal instars (for males), and adult (Mani and Shivaraju, 2016). According to Sharaf and Meyerdirk (1987), the number of instars is four for females and five for males. The first‐instar nymph (crawler) can be carried away by wind. The development time lasts between 19 and 20 days at 25°C and 15–19 days at 32°C (Gerson and Aplebaum, online).Males have forewings and live up to 3 days. Females are wingless and live up to 50 days (Gerson and Aplebaum, online).The mealybug can have several overlapping generations per year (Sharaf and Meyerdirk, 1987). Six to seven generations occur annually in the Jordan Valley (Gerson and Aplebaum, online).In the Middle East mealybug overwinters as adult in cracks and crevices of the stems and branches (Gerson and Aplebaum, online). In Iraq, N. viridis overwinters as egg, nymph and adult (Jarjes et al., 1989).
Symptoms	Main type of symptoms	Nipaecoccus viridis adults and larvae can damage all plant parts, such as leaves, fruits, twigs, flowers and even roots (Abdul‐Rassoul, 1970; Sharaf and Meyerdirk, 1987).Main symptoms are:– curling and dwarfing of the terminal growth,– abortion of flowers,– yellowing of leaves,– yellowing of fruits,– corky scars on fruits,– watery green spots on ripen fruits,– fruit size deformation,– dropping of fruits,– white or pale‐yellow waxy secretion,– honeydew,– sooty mould,– distortion and rosetting of plants,– wilting,– dieback,– defoliation (CABI, online; Gerson and Aplebaum, online; Sharaf and Meyerdirk, 1987)
	Presence of asymptomatic plants	Plant damage might not be obvious in early infestation or during dormancy (due to the absence of leaves), but the presence of mealybugs on the plants could be observed. During the crawler stage, infestation is difficult to be noted.
	Confusion with other pests	Nipaecoccus viridis can be confused with several other mealybugs.
Host plant range	Nipaecoccus viridis attacks 53 plant families and 140 genera (García Morales et al., online). Main hosts are avocado (Persea americana), citrus (Citrus spp.), coffee (Coffea spp.), cotton (Gossypium spp.), grapevine (Vitis vinifera), mango (Mangifera indica), pomegranate (Punica granatum) and tamarind (Tamarindus spp.) (CABI, online; Gerson and Aplebaum, online).Other host plants are fig (Ficus carica), Indian siris (Albizia lebbeck), jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), white mulberry (Morus alba), oleander (Nerium oleander), potato (Solanum tuberosum), rosemallows (Hibiscus spp.) and soybean (Glycine max) (CABI, online; García Morales et al., online).Nipaecoccus viridis is an agricultural pest in Asia that attacks food, forage, ornamental and fibre crops (Sharaf and Meyerdirk, 1987). It has economic impact on ber, citrus, custard apple, grapes, guava, jackfruit, mango, pomegranate and pummelo (Mani and Shivaraju, 2016).
Pathways	Plants for planting (presence on roots is controversial) and fruits are the main pathways for introduction and spread of N. viridis (Grousset et al., 2016; Wistermann et al., 2016).Possible pathways of entry for mealybugs are plant materials of any kind (hiding in a protected site – on the bark, roots, stems, leaves), human transportation, irrigation water, wind, animals and ants (Mani and Shivaraju, 2016).
Surveillance information	No surveillance information for this pest is currently available from PPIS. There is no information on whether the pest has ever been found in the nursery or their surrounding environment.