Corresponding author: Hirotaka Tanaka (
Academic editor: R. Blackman
A new soft scale (
Tanaka H, Kondo T (2015) Description of a new soft scale insect of the genus
With the exception of Argentina (
A few years ago, the second author of the present paper was informed by Mrs. Andrea Amalia Ramos-Portilla of a species of
In the past, the genus
The scale insect samples were collected by the second author on 5 September 2014 from street trees of
The description was based on multiple slide-mounted specimens. The terminology used to describe the adult female followed that of
The type specimens are deposited in the Colección Taxonómica Nacional “Luis María Murillo”, Corpoica, C.I. Tibaitatá, Mosquera, Cundinamarca, Colombia (CTNI), the Museo Entomológico Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia (UNAB), the National Museum of Natural History Entomological Collection, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. (USNM:
The new species described below is a typical member of the tribe
1 | Most marginal setae with bifid, frayed, fimbriate, or finely split apices |
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– | Most marginal setae with sharply or rather bluntly pointed apices |
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2 | Ventral tubular ducts in submarginal area of head frequent and broadly distributed. Multilocular pores mainly each with 9–11 loculi. Marginal setae usually strongly fimbriate; setal collar of most setae narrower than setal tip. Spiracles of mature specimens usually surrounded by a strongly sclerotized crescentic plate |
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– | Ventral tubular ducts in submarginal area of head scarce or absent except in area near margin. Multilocular pores mainly each with 6–7 loculi. Marginal setae usually slightly to moderately fimbriate. Spiracles of mature specimens not surrounded by a strongly sclerotized crescentic plate |
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3 | Submarginal area of head and thorax with ventral tubular ducts numerous and widespread. Dorsal setae lanceolate, each seta with a marked constriction at base. Body shape usually conspicuously elongate oval |
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– | Submarginal (and marginal) area of head and thorax without ventral tubular ducts. Multilocular pores mainly each with five loculi. Dorsal setae spiniform, each seta without a marked constriction at base. Body shape oval rather than elongate |
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4 | Multilocular pores absent medially on thorax. Ventral tubular ducts present medially on thorax between mesothoracic and metathoracic coxae |
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– | Multilocular pores present medially on thorax between mesothoracic and metathoracic coxae. Ventral tubular ducts absent medially on thorax |
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Morphological character states used for separating
Spanish: Escama blanda algodonosa del caucho sabanero; English: Sabanero fig cottony scale.
Holotype, adult female. Colombia, Cundinamarca, Bogotá, D.C. Barrio Salitre, Carrera 68B, con Av. La Esperanza, Esquina Noroccidental, 05.xi.2014, coll. T. Kondo & Andrea Amalia Ramos Portilla, ex branches of
(Figure
(n=12). Body oval, 2.5–4.6 mm long, 2.1–3.5 mm wide, margin with very shallow indentation at each stigmatic cleft; anal cleft about 1/5–1/8 body length.
Dorsum: Derm membranous, dermal areolation not developed. Dorsal setae spiniform, frequent, scattered over entire dorsum, each 9–15 µm long with well-developed basal socket. Preopercular pores circular, each diameter 3–7 µm, rather well-sclerotized and convex, extending broadly on medial area from area just anterior to anal plates forward to about mesothorax, but usually scarce anteriorly. Only a few tubular ducts present, situated anterior to anal plates, where they are intermixed with preopercular pores; sometimes ducts also present marginally on head and thorax. Dorsal microducts frequent throughout. Simple pores present, mostly distributed evenly. Dorsal tubercles absent. Anal plates together quadrate; each plate with posterior margin slightly convex and anterior margin slightly concave, with 3–4 (usually 3) fine apical setae; each plate 223–258 µm long, 128–166 µm wide, with supporting bar and reticulation on area near lateral angle. Ano-genital fold with four or five pairs of setae along anterior margin and one to three pairs laterally. Anal ring bearing about 10–12 setae. Eyespots present near margin.
Margin: Marginal setae with well-developed basal sockets and usually slightly blunt but rarely with simple, pointed apices; length of each seta 17–79 µm; with 4–12 setae present between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts. Stigmatic clefts shallow or absent, each with 1–4 (usually 3) stigmatic spines, central spine longest, 50–103 µm long, about three to eight times as long as lateral spines.
Venter: Derm membranous. Multilocular pores each 5–9 µm wide, with 3–8 loculi (mainly 5), present around genital opening, on mediolateral areas of all abdominal segments, mesothorax, metathorax and head; a small group also present lateral to each coxa. Spiracular pores each 4.0–7.0 µm wide, with 3–6 loculi (mainly 5), present in rather narrow bands 1–5 pores wide between margin and each spiracle; anterior bands each with 25–47 pores, posterior bands each with 32–49 pores. Ventral microducts scattered evenly throughout, each about 2.0–3.0 µm wide. Preantennal pore not detected. Ventral tubular ducts of three types: type I with large outer ductule, flower-shaped well-developed terminal gland and stout inner ductule, present in medial area of thorax, the anterior two to four abdominal segments, and in inner submarginal band from area posterior to vulvar region near anal folds forwards to area just posterior to metathoracic spiracular pore band; type II tubular ducts each with rather small outer ductule, narrower inner ductule, shallow cup-shaped invagination and well-developed terminal gland, occurring in medial area of posterior abdominal segments; and type III ducts similar to type II, but with a short, filamentous inner ductule and very small terminal gland, present in submarginal band from area posterior to vulvar region near anal folds forwards to area posterior to metathoracic spiracular pore band, intermixed with type I ducts in inner submarginal area. Ventral tubular ducts of all types absent marginally and submarginally from head to anterior thoracic segments and from the outer submarginal to marginal areas of posterior thorax and abdomen. Ventral submarginal setae short and fine, distributed evenly; other ventral setae relatively long and present in medial area of thorax, between antennae and in transverse rows of abdominal segments. Spiracles normal, rather large; width of each peritreme: anterior 90–117 µm, posterior 103–132 µm. Legs well developed and stout, each with a tibio-tarsal articulation and an articulatory sclerosis; claws without denticles; both claw digitules rather broad and slightly shorter than thin tarsal digitules, as shown in Figure
The species is named after Dr. Andrea Amalia Ramos Portilla and Mr. Alejandro Caballero who originally discovered this soft scale species on the streets of Bogota, Colombia.
The insects were found on the trunk, branches and twigs of the host. Adult males and puparia were commonly intermixed with the females (Figure
This species is considered to be close to
In the Neotropical region, 27 species of
Elucidating the taxonomic position of
The authors thank Dr. Andrea Amalia Ramos Portilla for cooperation in the collection of this new species. The second author thanks the Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research (Corpoica) for research funding. This work was also supported in part by KAKENHI (grants-in-aid for Scientific Research) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (26925004 to H. Tanaka).