Aspidiotus destructor Signoret, 1869: 120.
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — La Foa County (IAC, SRFP), on fruit of Annona cherimola, 24.VI.2002, J.-P. Kataoui coll.; La Foa County (Nili), on leaves of Olea europea, 1.VII.2008, C. Mille coll.; both Rosa C. Henderson det. (NZAC, CXMNC).
PUBLISHED RECORDS IN NEW CALEDONIA. — Brun & Chazeau (1984).
DISTRIBUTION IN NEW CALEDONIA. — West Coast of Grande Terre.
OTHER RECORDS. — Almost cosmopolitan.
HOST- PLANTS IN NEW CALEDONIA. — Annona spp., Artocarpus spp., Carica papaya, Citrus spp., Mangifera indica, Musa sapientum, Passiflora spp., Persea americana, Prunus persica, Psidium guajava, Vitis vinifera (Mille 2011), this species occurs also on olive trees (Olea europea), coconut (Cocos nucifera) and other palms (Arecaceae).
BIOLOGICAL AGENTS. — Predated by Rhizobius satelles Blackburn, 1892; Chilocorus nigritus (Fabricius, 1798) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and parasitized by Comperiella bifasciata (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae).
NOTES. — This species is a relatively recent introduction (less than 30 years ago). Cohic (1958a) stated that it was a misidentification of the invalid species “ Aspidiotus hederae (Vallot) ” (Ben Dov & Matile-Ferrero 1999) by Risbec (1942), the latter species being A. nerii described below. As the record was an addendum of the first edition of the Brun & Chazeau’s catalogue in 1980, this means that A. destructor probably arrived during the early 1980s. Not rated as an economic pest in New Caledonia.