QINOCOCCIDAE Wu

Wu, San-An, Xu, Han & Zheng, Xinyi, 2022, A new coccoid family (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) for an unusual species of scale insect on Podocarpus macrophyllus (Podocarpaceae) from southern China, Zootaxa 5120 (4), pp. 543-558 : 544-545

QINOCOCCIDAE Wu , fam. n.

Type genus: Qinococcus Wu , gen. n.

Family diagnosis. Adult female. Body tadpole-shaped, with head and thorax wide and abdomen narrow. Antennae much reduced, plate-like. Mouthparts developed. Legs much reduced. Thoracic spiracles with pores in atrium; abdominal spiracles numbering 5 pairs, also each with pores in atrium. Anal ring simple. Venter of abdominal segment I developed. Vulva opening longitudinally. Pores of several types present, including large simple pores and multilocular pores, each with 2–6 central loculi.

Adult male. Xylococcid-like; antennae each filiform, long, and 10-segmented. A pair of compound eyes and two dorsal ocelli present. Legs well developed, with tarsi each 2-segmented; each claw with 2 denticles. Abdomen with large tubular ducts on tergites VI and VII. Head with a box-like arrangement of ventral ridges. Prothorax dorsally with strong pronotal ridge extending uninterrupted across hind part of neck, and an inverted “ π ” - like posttergite. Fore wing large, with a pterostigma, anterior flexing patch branched, and a clear line present posterior to cubital ridge. Hind wing reduced, lobe-like, with apex bilobate. Endophalus absent.

First instar nymph. Antennae each 7-segmented. Cicatrices present.

Biology. Living under the bark of the trunk and large branches. The life history includes cyst-like stages.

Remarks on taxonomic relationships. This new family was established mainly based on the structure of the adult male of Q. podocarpus Wu , sp. n., which possesses: 1) prothorax with an inverted “ π”- like post-tergite, and 2) fore wing with pterostigma and unusual venation, with the anterior flexing patch branched and a clear line present posterior to the cubital ridge.

Among the adult males studied in the Coccomorpha , the post-tergites are present in all groups (except perhaps the Stigmacoccidae ) in two morphological states: either (i) lying more-or-less longitudinally along the prothorax in the families Ortheziidae and Margarodidae sensu Morrison , or (ii) transversely just anterior to the anterior margin of the scutum and parallel with each prealare of the mesothorax in the families Pityococcidae , Phenacoleachidae, Steingellidae, Putoidae and most neococcoids ( Hodgson & Foldi 2006; Hodgson 2020). The post-tergites in the new family are well developed and complicated, showing an inverted “ π”- like shape. Possibly this is the primitive condition, with the above two states being reductions from it.

The venation of the fore wing in adult male Qinococcus is the most complicated found in the described scale insects, with a pterostigma, the anterior flexing patch or light line between the subcostal ridge and cubital ridge forked, and the posterior flexing patches between the cubital ridge and posterior wing margin with two branches. The wings of adult males in other scale families have the anterior flexing patch unbranched and the posterior flexing patch with only one branch.

Based on the morphology of the adult male, the new family Qinococcidae is closest to the extinct family Weitschatidae Koteja 2008 . They share the following characters: antennae each 10-segmented, with flagellar segments cylindrical and lacking capitate setae; compound eyes present; scutum without a membranous area; scutellum without membranous lateral areas; basisternum hexagonal; fore wings hyaline, broad at base, with a narrow alar fold for holding hamuli, subcostal ridge with distinct club-shaped pterostigma, cubital ridge situated beyond middle of wing; tarsus two-segmented; tail tufts present on abdominal tergites VI and VII ( Koteja 2008; Vea & Grimaldi 2015; Lin et al. 2018); but Qinococcidae can be easily distinguished from Weitschatidae by the anterior flexing patch being forked and in having two posterior flexing patches in the fore wing.

Based on the published descriptions of the adult females of Jansenus burgeri Foldi and Neogreenia spp. , it is possible that these two genera may also fall within Qinococcidae , but none of their males have been studied. The adult females of these three genera all share (i) vulva opening longitudinally, and (ii) multilocular pores each with 2–6 central loculi ( Tang & Hao 1995; Foldi 1997; Wu & Cheng 2006; Wu & Nan 2012).