HONEYDEW SUGARS ELIMINATED BY STIGMACOCCUS SP. NR. ASPER HEMPEL (HEMIPTERA: MARGARODIDAE) FEEDING ON LEGUMINOUS TREES IN BRAZIL.

Abstract

HONEYDEW SUGARS ELIMINATED BY STIGMACOCCUS SP. NR ASPER HEMPEL (HEMIPTERA: MARGARODIDAE) FEEDING ON LEGUMINOUS TREES IN BRAZIL.

The sooty mould coating the trunks of mature trees of Schizolobium excelsum in Brazil was found to be associated with honeydew being eliminated by an undescribed species of margarodid near Stigmacoccus asper Hempel. Analysis of the honeydew sugars by paper chromatography revealed a complex composition. The principal sugar was sucrose, but there were significant amounts of fructose, glucose and three components identified as di-, tri- and tetrasaccharides. The disaccharides were maltose, trehalose, trehalulose and a hexose-hexitol. The other, apparently novel, pair of oligosaccharides were composed of glucose(s) 1,4 linked to the glucose of sucrose. The sugar composition of the tree sap was also determined and found to be glucose and sucrose only. The findings, therefore, imply significant and novel metabolic transformations of sugars by the scale insect and/or its microbial symbionts.

Key words: Xylococcinae, sexual reproduction, stigmatriose, stigmatetraose, Amazonia.