''Nipponaclerda biwakoensis'' is a

scale insect Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the ...

originally described from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and naturally occurring in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

; in these countries it is most often associated with reeds in the genus ''

Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, maintained by Kew Garden in London ...

''.Scalenet entry for ''Nipponaclerda biwakoensis''
/ref> This species has become established (as of 2017) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the state of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where it has rapidly become a serious pest of roseau cane, damaging over 80% of the reeds in some areas such as the

Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a protected wetland in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States. The WMA is located due south and bordering the 48,000 acre Delta National Wildlife Refuge, accessible only by air or boat, conta ...

,Scientists identify pest laying waste to Mississippi River Delta wetlands grass
/ref> where it is referred to by the older common name Phragmites scale insect or the more recently-coined name, roseau cane mealybug. Several species of

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

wasps are known to attack this scale, with initial investigations focusing on the species '' Neastymachus japonicus'', known only to attack this one pest.

Impact

While ''

'' is often considered a noxious weed,USDA fact sheet
/ref> in Louisiana the reed beds, dubbed "roseau cane", are critical to the stability of the shorelines of

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

areas and waterways of the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

, and the die-off of reed beds is believed to accelerate

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

References

Pest insects Insects described in 1907 Aclerdidae {{Coccoidea-stub