Hadzibejliaspis, Koteja

Pellizzari, Giuseppina, 2013, Three new species in the subfamily Eriopeltinae Šulc from Italy (Hemiptera, Coccoidea, Coccidae) with comments on the genus Lecanopsis, Zootaxa 3635 (2), pp. 101-116 : 102

Genus HADZIBEJLIASPIS Koteja

The genus Hadzibejliaspis was established by Koteja (1978) to include the species Exaeretopus stipae Hadzibejli, 1960 . According to Koteja (l.c.), the genus is characterised by the presence of very large tubular ducts, each 40–45 µm long and 9–10 µm wide, with longitudinal ridges on their inner surface. Moreover, there is one pair of pregenital setae present medially on each of the posterior 5 or 6 abdominal sternites plus 0–2 spiracular disc pores near each spiracular opening and 4–8 in each peritreme cavity. According to Koteja (l.c.), the genus Hadzibejliaspis shares some morphological characteristics with the genus Exaeretopus (body shape, and some characters of legs and antennae), with Luzulaspis (presence of long median setae on 6 posterior abdominal sternites) and with Lecanopsis (presence of large tubular ducts).

Hodgson (1994) redescribed the genus based on 2 rather poor paratypes, and added some details and remarks, i.e. the peculiar tubular ducts on his specimens were 35–40 µm long, with 2/3 of each duct slightly sclerotised; he was unable to determine the number of pairs of pregenital setae due to the bad condition of the specimens. The same paratypes have been studied in the present work and the data reported by Hodgson are confirmed.

Information on the biology of H. stipae is very scarce. According to Hadzibejli (1960, 1973), egg laying occurs in early June among the leaves of Stipa caucasica , but the females can drop to the ground easily, as they are not fixed on the host plant; the female secretes a loose ovisac of thick, waxy, brilliant threads that do not entirely cover the body; and each female can lay up to 160 pinky-yellowish eggs. H. stipae has been collected so far only in Georgia, near Tbilisi, off Stipa caucasica and S. pulcherrima (Hadzibejli, 1960, 1973).

Hadzibejliaspis was monotypic until now. However, a revision of the material close to Lecanopsis present in the DAFNAE collection, highlighted the presence of a new species, whose morphological characters are here ascribed to Hadzibejliaspis .