Pelionella cycliger (Leonardi) Leonardi, 2015

Kaydan, Mehmet Bora, 2015, A systematic study of Peliococcus Borchsenius (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae), with descriptions of a new Palaearctic genus and four new species from Turkey, Zootaxa 3920 (2), pp. 201-248 : 228

Pelionella cycliger (Leonardi) , comb. nov.

( Fig. 10 )

Pseudococcus cycliger Leonardi, 1908: 168 .

Peliococcus cycliger (Leonardi) : Kozár & Walter, 1985: 70 (change of combination). Pelionella cycliger (Leonardi) : Danzig & Gavrilov-Zimin, 2014: 453. Unavailable name. Phenacoccus oleae Marchal, 1910: 245 (synonymized by Longo et al., 1989: 164). Peliococcus deserticola Ben-Dov & Gerson ex Furth et al., 1984: 106 , syn. nov.

Material studied. P. deserticola , Paratype: adult female: Israel, Wadi Qilt, on Rhus tripartita (Anacardiaceae) , deposited in Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel.

Diagnosis. Adult female (after Longo et al., 1989). Body elongate oval, 1.2–2.5 mm long, 0.7–0.9 mm wide. Antennae 9 segmented, 300–410 µm long. Anterior spiracles larger than posterior spiracles, each 65 µm long, 35 µm wide across atrium. Circulus large. Legs well developed; posterior legs: trochanter + femur 210–250 µm, tibia + tarsus 250–280 µm, claw 21–25 µm long. Both pairs of ostioles present. Cerarii slightly sclerotized, numbering 18 marginal pairs, dorsal absent; anal lobe cerarii each with 2 slender conical setae plus a group of trilocular pores and 2 or 3 spine-like auxiliary setae.

Dorsum: Body setae spine-like. Clusters each with 4–8 multilocular disc pores, a single minute oral collar tubular duct in centre; each multilocular disc pore with 2 rows of 11 loculi. Trilocular pores scattered over entire body. Minute discodial pores generally in clusters.

Venter: Multilocular disc pores present on posterior abdominal segment V–VII, and along margin of abdominal segments VIII + IX, plus a wider band around vulva. Clusters as on dorsum, present medially in head, thorax and abdominal segments III and IV, and along body margin. Quinquelocular pores scattered in middle area of head, thorax and first 6 abdominal segments. Trilocular pores scattered on body except absent medially in thorax and head. Oral collar tubular ducts concentrated along body margin and in single rows on abdominal segments V–VIII+IX ( Longo et al., 1989).

Comments. The new synonymy is based on a comparison of the type material of P. deserticola with the drawings of the P. cycliger by Longo et al., (1989). Pelionella cycliger , currently only known from countries around the Mediterranean, is very similar to P. ba l t e at a in having: (i) clusters with only 1 small oral collar tubular duct in the centre, and (ii) 1 size of oral collar tubular duct on dorsum. However, P. cycliger differs from P. balteata in having a much larger number of multilocular pores in each cluster on the dorsum and venter.

Host plants. On a wide variety of plants, including Olea europaea (Oleaceae), Cynodon dactylon (Poacaeae) , Onosma aleppica (Boraginaceae) and Rhus tripartita (Anacardiaceae) . P. cycligera has three generations/year on olive trees in Apulia, Italy, and the first-instar nymphs of the third generation overwinter under a wax cocoon ( Porcelli & Pizza, 1995).

Distribution. Spain, France, Italy, Sicily, Tunisia, Algeria, Israel.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Pelionella cycligera (Leonardi), after Longo et al., 1989, with modifications according to P. deserticola type material. Note: each cluster with only 1 small oral collar tubular duct in centre and 4 – 8 multilocular disc pores; each anal lobe cerarius with 2 enlarged cerarian setae plus 2 smaller auxiliary setae.