Bambusaspis longa (Green)

Hodgson, Chris, 2020, A review of neococcid scale insects (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccomorpha) based on the morphology of the adult males, Zootaxa 4765 (1), pp. 1-264 : 185-187

Bambusaspis longa (Green) ( Fig. 72 )

Planchonia miliaris longa Maskell, 1895, 62 . Nomen nudum .

Planchonia miliaris longa Green, 1896b , 5. Type data: Sri Lanka, Punduloya, on Arundinaria sp. Syntypes, female, by original designation. Type depository: BMNH.

Asterolecanium miliaris longum (Green) ; Cockerell, 1896a, 328. Change of combination.

Asterolecanium longum (Green) ; Russell, 1941, 122. Change of combination and rank.

Bambusaspis longa (Green) ; Tang & Hao, 1995, 374. Change of combination.

Material examined. Sri Lanka, Punduloya, ex unknown plant, no date, E.E. Green? ( USNM): 1/5ad ♂♂ (fair to very poor, 1 good but wings crumpled; 1 fair, missing most legs and wings; others poor).

Mounted material: small, total body length 0.68–0.75 mm; robust; antennae about half total body length, with some long, stout setae on 2 segments; body with almost no setae, limbs with both fleshy setae (fs) and hair-like setae (hs) but fs difficult to differentiate from hs; length antennal setae greater than width of antennal segments. Wings all crumpled.

Head: appearing oval to rather triangular in dorsal view on mounted specimens; width across genae 145–155 μm. Median crest (mc) very broad posterior to antennae, strongly reticulated, each reticulation without additional inner microridges, reticulations extending laterally onto ocular sclerite; with a pair of sclerites posteriorly lying diagonally to mid-line, representing postoccipital ridge (por); without dorsal head setae (dhs). Mid-cranial ridge: absent dorsally; ventral ridge (vmcr) well developed, extending posteriorly to level with anterior margin of ventral eyes; with well-developed lateral arms (lmcr); with a distinctly reticulated border anteriorly; without ventral midcranial ridge setae (vmcrs). Genae (g) without reticulations and without genal protuberance; genal setae (gs) absent. Simple eyes: with two pairs of round simple eyes; dorsal eyes (dse) subequal to or marginally smaller than ventral eyes (vse): dorsal eyes 26–28 μm wide; ventral eyes 28–32 μm wide. Ocelli (o) absent. Ocular sclerite (ocs) sclero- tised and polygonally reticulated throughout, each reticulation rather small, without inner microridges. Preocular ridge (procr) with ventral arm extremely short or absent; dorsal arm extending posteriorly to dorsal margin of dorsal simple eye. Postocular ridge (pocr) strongly developed, extending dorsally just posterior to dorsal eyes (which it almost touches) and then posteriorly to posterior to postoccipital ridgs. Dorsal ocular setae (docs) absent. Ventral head setae (vhs): with 5–8 on each side, plus 1–4 between ventral eyes; vhs extending transversely almost to dorsal eyes; without setae posterior to ventral eyes. Preoral ridge (pror) possibly absent or poorly developed. Cranial apophysis (ca) elongate, 28 μm long.

Antennae: 10-segmented and filiform; each 345–400 μm long (ratio of total body length to antennal length 1:0.52); with longer stout setae (probably ab) on segments IV and VII; hs only noted on scape and pedicel, each 10 μm long. Scape (scp): 18–21 μm long, 26–30 μm wide, with 0 or 1 hs + 7 or 8 fs. Pedicel (pdc): length 20 μm, width 20 μm; with a few concentric ridges on distal end; with 6–8 fs + 2 or 3 hs. Segments III–X all 15–18 μm wide: lengths of segments (μm): III 50–52; IV 48–55; V 41–48; VI 33–48; VII 43–45; VIII 33–40 and IX 35–40. Setae: short setae (fs) 19–23 μm long; longer stout setae each about 25 (IV) and 50 μm (VII) long; approximate number of setae per segment: III 8–10 (sensilla basiconica not noted); IV 14 or 15 fs + a longer stout seta; V–VIII each with 12–14 fs (VII with a longer stout seta); IX 16–18 fs (bristles, if present, undifferentiated). Segment X 38–40 μm long; not constricted apically; with 3 capitate setae (caps) (one long), 4–6 fs + 1 long antennal bristle; sensilla basiconica (sb) not noted.

Thorax. Prothorax: pronotal ridge (prnr) well-developed; with a narrow, striated, lateral pronotal sclerite (prn), without lateral pronotal (lpns) setae. Medial pronotal setae, post-tergites and post-tergital setae apparently absent. Sternum (stn 1) not sclerotised but with a few ridges extending anteriorly; transverse ridge rather weak and slightly diagnonal; median ridge strongly sclerotised and very long, extending anteriorly to between procoxae (length 63–72 μm long); without prosternal setae (stn 1 s). Anteprosternal (astn 1 s) and antemesospiracular setae (am 2 s) absent.

Mesothorax: prescutum (prsc) 110 μm wide; sclerotised with distinct shallow ridges; prescutal ridges (pscr) and prescutal suture (pscs) well developed. Scutum (sct): median membranous area 153–162 μm wide, 62 μm long, bounded laterally by a strongly sclerotised margin; scutal setae (scts) absent; surface of membranous area distinctly reticulated; lateral margins sclerotised and lightly reticulated, mainly laterad to prescutum. Scutellum (scl) 110–125 μm wide, 66–68 μm long; with a large foramen; without scutellar setae (scls). Basisternum (stn 2) 155–160 μm wide, 78–93 μm long; with a strong median ridge (mdr); bounded anteriorly by a rather weak marginal ridge (mr) and posteriorly by a strong precoxal ridge (pcr 2); without basisternal setae (stn 2 s); lateropleurite (lpl) indistinct but apparently broad, fusing with posterior end of subepisternal ridge (ser); without an extension from marginal ridge anteriorly; furca (f) well developed, broad basally, posterior half of arms parallel but diverging slightly anteriorly; extending about 2/3rds to marginal ridge. Mesopostnotum (pn 2) and postnotal apophysis (pna) well developed. Area bounded anteriorly by scutellum and laterally and posteriorly by mesopostnotum weakly reticulated. Mesepisternum (eps 2) with faint striations; subepisternal ridge (ser) poorly developed. Postalare (pa) not reticulated anteriorly; without postalare setae (pas). Mesothoracic spiracle (sp 2): peritreme 15–17 μm wide. Postmeso- spiracular setae (pm 2 s) absent. Tegula (teg) small and lightly sclerotised, with 4–6 tegular setae (tegs) on each side.

Metathorax: metatergal setae (mts) absent. Dorsospiracular setae (dss) absent. Dorsal part of metapleural ridge (plr 3) absent; ventral part of metapleural ridge short; metepisternum (eps 3) apparently unsclerotised, without postmetaspiracular setae (eps 3 s). Metepimeron (epm 3) sclerotised but without setae. Antemetaspiracular setae (am 3 s) absent. Metathoracic spiracle (sp 3): width of peritreme 15–17 μm. Metasternum (stn 3) apparently membranous. Anterior metasternal setae (amss) and posterior metasternal setae (pmss) absent.

Wings: hyaline but either crumpled or incomplete; alar lobe (al) and alar setae (als) absent; wing venation normal. Hamulohalteres absent.

Legs: metathoracic legs possibly marginally longest. Coxae (cx) lengths (μm): I 60–62; II 55–63; III 53–60 long; coxa III with about 16 fs + 4 hs; long apical setae on each coxa 25–30 μm long. Trochanter (tr) + femur (fm): I 115–133; II 120–138; III 136–150 μm long; trochanter III elongate and broadest distally, strongly overlapping femur; with 12 fs + 2 hs; long trochanter seta undifferentiated; femur III with 30–35 setae, mainly fs. Tibia (ti): I 88–100; II 90; III 96 μm; tibia III with a total of about 25 setae, mainly fs and hs, a few becoming spur-like on distal third; without apical spurs (tibs). Tarsi (ta): I 98–115; II 115; III 128 μm long (ratio of length of tibia III to tarsus III 1:1.33); tarsus III with about 50 setae, mainly spur-like, particularly distally; tarsal spurs barely differentiated; tarsal campaniform sensilla present; tarsal digitules (tdt) fine, with small apical knobs, subequal to or slightly shorter than claw. Claws (c) quite long and thin, rather longer than width of tarsi, slightly curved, without a denticle, not held at right-angles to tarsus; length: III 17 μm; claw digitules (cdt) fine, with small apical knobs, slightly longer than claw.

Abdomen: segments I–VI: tergites (at) unsclerotised but distinctly reticulated medially, tergite VII slightly sclerotised; sternites (as) of II–VI unsclerotised; VII lightly sclerotised. Caudal extensions (ce) on segment VII absent. Dorsal setae (ads) absent. Pleural setae: dorsopleural setae (dps): VI and VII each with 1 hs on each side; ventral pleural setae (vps) absent; ventral abdominal setae (avs): VII 1 hs on each side.

Segment VIII: caudal extension rounded and more heavily sclerotised, each with 1 long hs (28–30 μm long) and 2 short hs pleural setae: tergite and sternite lightly sclerotised, tergite without setae, sternite with 1 pairs avs. Glandular pouches (gp) absent.

Genital segments: segment IX and style fused; length of penial sheath from anterior margin of IX 150 μm (ratio of total body length to length of penial sheath 1:0.19). Segment IX quite broad anteriorly, 50 μm wide, about 22 μm long, with anus on anterior margin. Style narrowing gradually to a fine apex posteriorly; sclerotised; with 1 or 2 pairs of longish hs ventrally on broadest part plus 1 or 2 pairs of smaller setae dorsally; also with 3 or 4 pairs of very short setae on either side of style and with some small sensilla near apex. Basal membranous area (bma) present just anterior to and on either side of basal rod; basal rod (bra) extending anteriorly almost to segment IX, length 25 μm, not extending down aedeagus. Aedeagus (aed) long and slowly tapering, 106–108 μm long; apex almost at tip of style.

Comment. The adult males of B. longa belong to the group of asterolecaniid males that have some very long setae on their antennae. It differs from the others in having the following combination of character-states: (i) the membranous area of scutum with reticulations, and (ii) a penial sheath several times longer than basal width.

Figures

FIGURE 72. Bambusaspis longa (Green). Macropterous male. (Asterolecaniidae). Where D=fleshy seta, E=hair-like seta and R=dermal reticulations on ocular sclerite.