Research Article |
Corresponding author: Scott A. Schneider ( scott.schneider@ars.usda.gov ) Academic editor: Roger Blackman
© 2019 Scott A. Schneider, Michael A. Fizdale, Benjamin B. Normark.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication.
Citation:
Schneider SA, Fizdale MA, Normark BB (2019) An online interactive identification key to common pest species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Diaspididae), version 1.0. ZooKeys 867: 87-96. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.867.34937
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Aspidiotini is a species-rich tribe of armored scale insects that includes several polyphagous and specialist pests that are commonly encountered at ports-of-entry to the United States and many other countries. This article describes a newly available online interactive tool that can be used to identify 155 species of Aspidiotini that are recognized as minor to major pests or that are potentially emergent pests. This article lists the species and features included with a description of the development and structure of the key. The interactive key is free to access at https://idtools.org/id/scales/aspidiotini/about_index.php.
Agriculture, armored scale insects, ITS, Lucid, plant quarantine
Armored scales (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) are the largest family of scale insects, accounting for approximately one-third of species diversity in the infraorder Coccomorpha. They are among the most invasive insects in the United States (
The tribe Aspidiotini is one of the larger subdivisions within this family, comprising approximately one-quarter of all described armored scales, ca. 720 species of 2,600 in total (~ 28%) (
The classification of aspidiotine genera does not conform to current estimates of phylogenetic relationships and presents a complex revisionary challenge. Recent molecular phylogenetic estimates have revealed paraphyly of several genera (
The suite of traits that define tribe Aspidiotini includes early paternal genome elimination, one-barred macroduct filaments, one pair of setae on the antennae of adult females, and a lack of pores near the anterior spiracles (see Fig.
Aspidiotine general morphology. This diagram exemplifies a composite aspidiotine species, illustrating major anatomical features, body segmentation, and traits that a user would encounter in the key. The illustration orients users to the appearance of slide-mounted specimens and terminology used to describe their features. The illustration is based on a similar image presented by
The conception of this key is the product of a workshop held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (
Many of the species (entities) included are commonly considered to be pests (
The list of characters (features) in this key was composed during the
Features used to separate species in version 1.0 of the interactive key. Lobes L1–L4 correspond with the pygidial lobes from the median pair through the fourth pair. Interlobular spaces are referred to as S0 (between median lobes), S1 (between median and second lobes), S2 (between second and third lobes), and S3 (between third and fourth lobes).
Location | Features |
General features | Pores near anterior spiracles (presence); body shape (overall); prosoma (constrictions, sclerotized protuberance, processes); lobes L2–L4 (presence); plates / gland-spines (presence); paraphyses (presence, longest length, relative lengths); perivulvar pores (presence); anus (shape, size, relative distance to apex, relative position of vulva); pygidium shape (angle, configuration of apex); dorso-medial pygidial sclerotization (pattern, distinct unsclerotized strip arising from S2, dorsal sclerotized bars near anterior margin of pygidium) |
Abdominal segment 8 | Lobe L1 (fusion, distance between lobes, orientation, shape at apex, # median notches, # lateral notches); basal scleroses (presence, length, shape); plates S0 (presence); paraphyses S0 (presence, shape); macroduct between L1 (presence, length); dorsal seta of L1 (relative length) |
Abdominal segment 7 | Lobe L2 (presence, shape at apex, # median notches, # lateral notches); plates S1 (number, shape, fringing, relative length); paraphyses S1 (presence, shape, relative length, relative width); dorsal ducts S1 (pore furrow presence and width, size of orifices, sclerotization of rim) |
Abdominal segment 6 | Lobe L3 (presence, shape at apex, # median notches, # lateral notches); plates S2 (number, shape, fringing, relative length); paraphyses S2 (presence, shape, relative length, relative width); dorsal ducts S2 (pore furrow presence and width, size of orifices, sclerotization of rim) |
Abdominal segment 5 | Lobe L4 (presence); plates / gland-spines S3 (number, shape); macroducts S3 (pore furrow presence, marginal ducts presence, size and orientation of marginal ducts, submarginal ducts presence, submedial ducts presence); paraphyses S3 (presence) |
Acutaspis: A. agavis (Townsend & Cockerell), A. albopicta (Cockerell), A. aliena (Newstead), A. morrisonorum Kosztarab, A. paulista Hempel, A. perseae (Comstock), A. reniformis (Cockerell), A. scutiformis (Cockerell), A. umbonifera (Newstead).
Aonidiella: A. aurantii (Maskell), A. citrina (Coquillett), A. comperei McKenzie, A. gracilis (Balachowsky), A. inornata McKenzie, A. orientalis (Newstead), A. replicata (Lindinger), A. taxus Leonardi, A. tsugae Takagi.
Aspidaspis: A. arctostaphyli (Cockerell & Robbins), A. densiflorae (Bremner), A. florenciae (Coleman).
Aspidiella: A. hartii (Cockerell), A. sacchari (Cockerell), A. zingiberi (Takahashi).
Aspidiotus: A. atomarius (Hall), A. cryptomeriae Kuwana, A. destructor Signoret, A. elaeidis Marchal, A. excisus Green, A. fularum Balachowsky, A. hedericola Leonardi, A. kellyi Brain, A. nerii (Bouche), A. pothos Takagi, A. rigidus Reyne.
Chentraspis unilobis (Maskell).
Chortinaspis: C. subchortina (Laing), C. subterranea (Lindinger).
Chrysomphalus: C. ansei (Green), C. aonidum (Linnaeus), C. bifasciculatus Ferris, C. dictyospermi (Morgan), C. diversicolor (Green), C. fodiens (Maskell), C. nepenthivorus Smith-Pardo, Evans & Dooley, C. pinnulifer (Maskell), C. propsimus Banks.
Clavaspidiotus apicalis Takagi.
Clavaspis: C. coursetiae (Marlatt), C. covilleae (Ferris), C. disclusa Ferris, C. herculeana (Cockerell & Hadden), C. subsimilis (Cockerell), C. texana Ferris, C. ulmi (Johnson).
Comstockaspis perniciosa (Comstock).
Davidsonaspis aguacatae (Evans, Watson & Miller).
Diaspidiotus: D. aesculi (Johnson), D. africanus (Marlatt), D. alni (Marchal), D. ancylus (Putnam) [bark and leaf forms], D. armenicus (Borchsenius), D. caucasicus (Borchsenius), D. coniferarum (Cockerell), D. degeneratus (Leonardi), D. elaeagni (Borchsenius), D. forbesi (Johnson), D. fraxini (McKenzie), D. gigas (Ferris), D. hunteri (Newell), D. juglansregiae (Comstock), D. leguminosum (Archangelskaya), D. lenticularis (Lindinger), D. liquidambaris (Kotinsky), D. maleti (Vayssière), D. marani (Zahradnik), D. mccombi McKenzie, D. osborni (Cockerell), D. ostreaeformis (Curtis), D. prunorum (Laing), D. pyri (Lichtenstein), D. shastae (Coleman), D. slavonicus (Green), D. sulci (Balachowsky), D. transcaspiensis (Marlatt), D. turanicus (Borchsenius), D. uvae (Comstock), D. wuenni (Lindinger), D. zonatus (Frauenfeld).
Dynaspidiotus: D. abieticola (Koroneos), D. abietis (Schrank), D. apacheca (Ferris), D. britannicus (Newstead), D. californicus (Comstock), D. ephedrarum (Lindinger), D. rhodesiensis (Hall), D. tsugae (Marlatt).
Hemiberlesia: H. andradae Okusu & Normark, H. candidula (Cockerell), H. cyanophylli (Signoret), H. diffinis (Newstead), H. flabellata Ferris, H. ignobilis Ferris, H. lataniae (Signoret), H. mendax McKenzie, H. musae Takagi & Yamamoto, H. neodiffinis Miller & Davidson, H. ocellata Takagi & Yamamoto, H. oxycoccus (Woglum), H. palmae (Cockerell), H. pitysophila Takagi, H. popularum (Marlatt), H. rapax (Comstock).
Lindingaspis: L. ferrisi McKenzie, L. floridana Ferris, L. musae (Laing), L. picea (Malenotti), L. rossi (Maskell), L. williamsi Balachowsky.
Melanaspis: M. bromiliae (Leonardi), M. delicata Ferris, M. enceliae (Ferris), M. glomerata (Green), M. inopinata (Leonardi), M. leivasi (Costa Lima), M. nigropunctata (Cockerell), M. obscura (Comstock), M. smilacis (Comstock), M. tenebricosa (Comstock).
Morganella: M. conspicua (Brain), M. longispina (Morgan).
Mycetaspis: M. apicata (Newstead), M. defectopalus Ferris, M. personata (Comstock).
Neoselenaspidus silvaticus (Lindinger).
Oceanaspidiotus spinosus (Comstock).
Octaspidiotus: O. australiensis (Kuwana), O. multipori (Takahashi), O. stauntoniae (Takahashi), O. subrubescens (Maskell), O. tamarindi (Green).
Pseudischnaspis bowreyi (Cockerell).
Rhizaspidiotus: R. canariensis (Lindinger), R. dearnessi (Cockerell), R. donacis (Leonardi).
Saharaspis ceardi (Balachowsky).
Selenaspidus: S. albus McKenzie, S. articulatus (Morgan), S. ferox Lindinger, S. kamerunicus Lindinger, S. spinosus Laing.
Targionia: T. arthrophyti (Archangelskaya), T. parayuccarum Munting, T. vitis (Signoret).
Varicaspis fiorineides (Newstead).
Web location: https://idtools.org/id/scales/aspidiotini/about_index.php
Platform: a website
Web Server: CentOS
Programming language: PHP 5 and MySQL
Application version: 1.0
Data base: MySQL
Data: 1.0
Language: English
License for use of the key: Attribution-Non-commercial
Use of the primary data: available upon request.
The key was built in Lucid Builder 3.5 (http://lucidcentral.org, Queensland, Australia). It is hosted online on the Identification Technology Program (ITP) webserver (http://idtools.org/) and deployed using a JavaScript Player (
The first feature encountered in the key, “pores near anterior spiracles,” will help confirm if a species is included within tribe Aspidiotini. This tool is only suitable for identifying specimens that lack pores near the anterior spiracles. An alternative key for the identification of armored scale genera, developed by J. Dooley and R. Dones (2008), is available at http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/Dones_Lourdes/homepage.htm.
Pygidial segmentation is described and depicted such that each lobe is associated with the interlobular space immediately posterior to it. The pygidial lobes are actually located near the midpoint of each abdominal segment, and each segment encompasses portions of the adjacent anterior and posterior interlobular spaces. This key employs an alternative representation purely for organizational purposes; each abdominal segment is associated with a single lobe and a single interlobular space to avoid confusion. The illustrations of pygidial segmentation (Fig.
The interactive key to species of Aspidiotini is useful for identifying major and minor pests as well as several potential pests from this tribe. This key facilitates species-level identification for a challenging group where specialized training and access to uncommon reference materials is usually required. The intent is to provide a user-friendly, accessible tool that simplifies the task of identification by minimizing the need to consult multiple dichotomous keys, which are often limited in zoogeographical or taxonomic scope. The digital format easily allows for updates to the classification, list of features, and species representation in future versions. Species are linked to a continuously updated, comprehensive database of scale insect taxonomic and biological information, ScaleNet. The targeted audience includes an international group of scientists, identifiers at ports-of-entry and government agencies from the local to national level. Both the key and this article are freely available to access.
We thank the following contributors and attendees from the 2014 workshop at