Bandamacoccus labiosus Hodgson, 2023

Hodgson, Chris J., 2023, A new genus and species of soft scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) on Ficus sp. from Côte d’Ivoire, Zootaxa 5256 (5), pp. 494-500 : 495-499

Bandamacoccus labiosus Hodgson sp. nov.

Material studied. Holotype adult female IVORY COAST / Bouaké , / WARDA [West African Rice Development Association] / 25.ix.1995 / Ficus sp. / C. Hodgson (NHM, good, mounted singly on a slide); also 3 paratype secondinstar males (NHM, fair to good condition, mounted separately on 3 slides).

Adult female ( Fig. 1 ). Described from the holotype, in good condition but with stain faded.

Unmounted material. Not recorded.

Mounted material. Body roundly oval, probably rather flat, lacking stigmatic clefts but with a wide anal cleft. Length 2.6 mm, width 1.9 mm.

Dorsum. Derm membranous but with paler areas around each pore. Dorsal setae very sparse, possibly restricted to a single seta on each anal lobe, each setose, 3–4 μm long, set slightly away from margin (but see dorsal pore type ii below). Dorsal pores of possibly 3 types: (i) a larger round closed pore, each 4–5 μm wide, which might be considered to be preopercular pores: present singly submedially on about abdominal segment I and on mesothorax; (ii) small round “pores”, often with a darker centre, each about 3 μm wide; present very sparsely throughout (these might be very short dorsal setae), and (iii) rather elongate oval pores, probably microducts, which appear to be bilocular, each 3–4 μm wide, each probably with a single long inner ductule; present randomly throughout but possibly forming a line submarginally where they appear slightly larger. Dorsal tubular ducts absent. Submarginal tubercles present, each round and convex, 15–17 μm wide; with 4 tubercles anteriorly between anterior stigmatic clefts, and, on each side, 1 between stigmatic clefts and 3 or 4 on each side between posterior stigmatic clefts and anal cleft. Anal plates together quadrate, with posterior margin slightly longer than anterior margin; each plate with 3 large setal sockets along inner margin (but all setae missing – all probably rather spinose), plus a short setose seta on each apex about 15 μm long; length of each plate 130 μm, width of plates combined 143 μm. Ano‑genital fold without obvious apodemes; with 2 pairs of setae along anterior margin, outer pair longest, each 40 μm long and inner pair 25 μm long; each lateral margin of ano‑genital fold with 1 setose seta. Anal ring with 8 setae, each at least 180 μm long.

Margin not crenulated. Marginal setae finely spinose, fairly evenly spaced along margin; each with apex very pointed, becoming almost filamentous but with a broad base; each 13–25 μm long; with 29 setae anteriorly between stigmatic clefts, and, on each side, 9–11 between stigmatic clefts and 27 or 28 on each side between posterior stigmatic clefts and anal cleft; each anal lobe with a long anal lobe seta, each about 110 μm long. Stigmatic clefts absent but each stigmatic area with 3 stigmatic spinose setae; median about 10x longer than laterals, slowly narrowing to a blunt apex; laterals somewhat similar to marginal setae (i.e., narrowing to a sharp point) but stouter and slightly shorter; length of median spine about 100 μm, each lateral spine 8–10 μm long. Eyespots on margin, each about 20 μm wide.

Venter. Multilocular disc‑pores each about 5 μm wide, with 10 loculi; very sparse on either side anterior to anal cleft; just 3 noted on one side (derm around anal plates slightly distorted). Spiracular disc-pores each small, with mainly 5 loculi, in narrow bands mainly about 1 pore wide; each anterior band with 17 pores, each posterior band with 11–21 pores; none extending anteriorly over peritreme. Ventral microducts frequent throughout. Preantennal pores absent. Ventral setae: with pairs of long pregenital setae on segments VI and VII, each 55–75 μm long; other setae all short and sparse, with 1 or 2 setae mesad to each coxa, each about 4 μm long; with 3 pairs of inter‑antennal setae, most mesad pair much longest, each 38–41 μm long, others very short, each 5–6 μm long; submarginal setae not differentiated.

Antennae each with 7 segments, segments III and IV much longest; total length of each antenna 365 μm; scape with 3 hair-like setae (hs); pedicel with 2 hs + a campaniform pore; segment III 0 setae; IV 3 hs; V 1 fleshy seta (fs); VI 1 fs + 1 hs, and VII 3 fs, 2 stiff setae and 3 or 4 hs; apical seta very long, 95–110 μm long. Clypeolabral shield 220 μm long; labium very large and wider than clypeolabral shield, about 230 μm wide (for further comment, see discussion below). Spiracles small, each peritreme 33 μm wide. Legs relatively small; lengths (metathoracic in μm): coxa 126–130, with 3 setae; trochanter + femur 145–150, trochanter with 1 long seta ventrally; femur with 2 setae; tibia and tarsus more or less fused, with no obvious segmentation, tibia + tarsus 170–175, tibia with 2 or 3 setae, tarsus with 4 setae; claw 33 μm long, rather sharply bent; claw without an obvious denticle; claw digitules both narrow, rather similar but shorter than tarsal digitules.

Discussion. Within the Afrotropical Coccini , adult female B. labiosus sp. nov. differ from all other species in this tribe in having the following combination of character-states: (i) submarginal tubercles; (ii) large dorsal microducts (which appear bilocular); (iii) preopercular pores either absent or very few; (iv) dorsal setae very few and setose; (v) anal plates each with three (probably) spinose setae along inner margin plus a setose apical seta; (vi) each stigmatic area with 3 stigmatic spines, median spine many times longer than lateral spines; (vii) marginal setae spinose, many with a flagellate apex; (viii) multilocular disc-pores with mainly 10 loculi; (ix) labium much larger than usual, clearly broader than clypeolabral shield; (x) legs without a tibio-tarsal articulation and sclerosis; (xi) claw digitules both narrow, (xii) claw without a denticle, and (xiii) antennae 7 segmented.

Perhaps the most unusual character-state is the very large size of the labium, which is wider than the clypeolabral shield (it should be noted that the labium on the adult female is damaged but clearly wider than the clypeolabral shield - it is assumed here that, as in other Coccidae , its structure in the adult female is similar to that of the secondinstar male described below). In all other Coccidae known to the author, the labium is much smaller, often only about half the size of the clypeolabral shield and much narrower. In scale insects, the structure of the mouthparts is hard to discern and describe, but in B. labiosus , the basic structure appears normal although enlarged but several areas related to where the stylets emerge are much more obviously sclerotised than normal (see Fig. 2 ). In addition, the most posterior segment of the labium appears to form two rather palp-like structures in the second-instar male. Many scale insect species feed on Ficus sp. (Moraceae) but do not have obvious modifications to their mouthparts and so the reasons for this unique structure in B. labiosus are unknown.

Although the dorsal microducts on the dorsum of this species appear to be bilocular, there is only one small pore, which lies centrally, through which the wax is secreted by the inner ductule and gland. The “loculi” are simply sclerotised “guard cells” as in a plants’ stomata.

Second-instar male ( Fig. 2 ). Described from 3 specimens in fair to good condition, all with faded stain.

Unmounted material. Not recorded.

Mounted material. Body roundly oval, probably rather flat, lacking stigmatic clefts but with a wide anal cleft. Length 1.4–1.7 mm, width 0.9–1.2 mm.

Dorsum. Derm membranous. Dorsal setae absent. Dorsal pores of 1 type: rather elongate oval pores, which appear to be bilocular, each 3–4 μm widest, each with a single long inner ductule; present randomly throughout but possibly forming a line submarginally where they appear slightly larger. Dorsal tubular ducts present submarginally on head, thorax and anterior abdomen, each with outer ductule 25 μm long and inner ductule 13 μm long, with a large glandular end; with 22–28 between anterior stigmatic clefts, 7 or 8 on each side between stigmatic clefts and 4–8 on each side of abdomen. Submarginal tubercles present, each round and convex, 13–15 μm wide; with 2 tubercles anteriorly on head, 0 between stigmatic clefts and 1 on each side posteriorly on abdomen. Anal plates together quadrate, with posterior margin slightly longer than anterior margin; each plate with a single setose seta on each inner margin and a stronger seta apically, latter about 22–30 μm long; length of each plate 92–108 μm, width of plates combined 60–75 μm. Ano‑genital fold without obvious apodemes; with 2 pairs of setae along anterior margin, outer pair longer, each 30–33 μm long, each inner pair 25 μm long; lateral margin of ano‑genital fold each with 1 seta posteriorly, 30 μm long. Anal ring with 8 setae, each at least 125 μm long.

Margin. Marginal setae finely spinose, fairly evenly spaced along margin; each with apex very pointed, becoming almost filamentous but with a broad base; each 13–25 μm long; with 21–30 setae anteriorly between stigmatic clefts, 8-10 on each side between stigmatic clefts and 24–29 on each side between posterior stigmatic clefts and anal cleft. Stigmatic clefts absent but each stigmatic area with 3 stigmatic spinose setae; median much longer than laterals, slowly narrowing to a blunt apex; laterals somewhat similar to marginal setae but stouter; length of median spine 75–86 μm, each lateral seta 15–25 μm long. Eyespots on margin, each about 13 μm wide.

Venter. Multilocular disc-pores absent. Spiracular disc-pores each small, with mainly 5 loculi, in narrow bands mainly about 1 pore wide: each anterior band with 12–14 pores, each posterior band with 9–13 pores; each band sometimes with 1–3 pores extending medially over peritremes and also sometimes expanding slightly near margin. Ventral microducts each about 2 μm wide, frequent throughout but also rather abundant in a broad inner submarginal band 2–3 pores wide, extending around entire margin, with pores most abundant in abdominal part of band, becoming much less frequent anteriorly and band becoming somewhat obscure in head; microducts elsewhere segmentally arranged medially. Preantennal pores absent. Ventral setae: with pairs of long pregenital setae on segments VI and VII, each about 50 μm long; other setae all short and sparse; with 1 seta mesad to procoxae, those mesad of other coxae absent; with 2 pairs of inter‑antennal setae, most mesad pair much longest, each about 40 μm long, shorter setae each about 8 μm long; submarginal setae very sparse.

Antennae each with 6 segments, segment III much longest; total length of each antenna 190–218 μm; scape with 3 setae; pedicel with 2 hair-like setae (hs) + a campaniform pore; segment III with 3 hs; IV 1 fleshy seta (fs); V 1 fs + 1 fs and VI 3 fs, 2 stiff setae and 3 or 4 hs; apical seta very long, 55–60 μm long. Clypeolabral shield 138–143 μm long, 135–147 μm wide; labium very large and wider than clypeolabral shield, length about 150–170 μm, width 150–175 μm (for further comment, see discussion above). Spiracles small, each peritreme 18–20 μm wide. Legs relatively small; lengths (metathoracic in μm): coxa 83–86, with 3 setae; trochanter + femur 98–106, trochanter with 1 long seta ventrally; femur with 2 setae; tibia and tarsus separate but segmentation obscure, tibia 58–70, tarsus 70– 73, tibia with 2 setae, tarsus with 3 setae; claw 25 μm long, rather sharply bent; claw without a denticle; claw digitules both narrow, rather similar but shorter than tarsal digitules.

Species name derivation: labiosus – Latin, meaning large-lipped, referring to the large labium.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Bandamacoccus labiosus Hodgson sp. nov., adult female.

FIGURE 2. Bandamacoccus labiosus Hodgson sp. nov., second-instar male.