Pests of Cassava in South Florida

Insect pests found on cassava, Manihot esculenta, in southern Florida included the cassava hornworm, Erinnyis ello L., cassava shoot fly, Neosilba perezi Romero and Ruppel, banded cucumber beetle, Diabrotica balteata Le Conte, southern armyworm, Spodoptera eridania Cramer, cassava scale, Aonidomytilus albus Cockerell, Caribbean black scale, Saissetia neglecta de Lotto, Mexican mealybug, Phenacoccus gossypii Townsend & Crockerell, Phenacoccus sp. near obscurus and several species of stem borers. The mites, Mononychellus caribbeanae McGregor, Tetranychus urticae Koch and Panonychus citri (McGregor) were found feeding on the leaves. The lace bug, Corythuca gossypii Fabricius, is recorded for the first time as a cassava pest.