Kermes, Boitard

Moghaddam, Masumeh & Watson, Gillian W., 2024, The Scale Insects Of Iran (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) Part 3 The Soft Scales (Coccidae) And Other Families, Zootaxa 5542 (1), pp. 1-202 : 141-142

Genus KERMES Boitard

Kermes Boitard, 1828: 171 . Type species: Coccus variegatus Gmelin , by subsequent designation of Fernald 1903: 60. Talla von Heyden, 1860: 90 .

Diagnostic characters of the adult female: Live post-reproductive adult female Kermes are heavy sclerotized, spherical or shaped like a heart, bud or gall; they are light brown to black, and do not produce an ovisac. Slide-mounted adult female with legs each with 3‒5 segments; dorsum with some conical setae and tubular ducts; anal ring may contain setae but never pores. venter with broad submarginal band of tubular ducts, with some ducts wrench shaped ( Fig. 66F ); without submarginal rows of quinquelocular or bilocular pores. Irregular sclerotized spots often present on both surfaces of abdomen. Anterior spiracles usually much smaller than posterior spiracles.

Comments: Worldwide, 64 species are included in Kermes ( García Morales et al. 2016) ; K. quercus (Linnaeus) and K. spatulatus Balachowsky have been recorded from Iran ( Moghaddam 2009).

Key to species of Kermes in Iran, based on slide-mounted adult females.

1(0) Antennae each with 2 or 3 segments. Legs reduced, each with 3 segments. Anal ring situated near abdominal apex; margin of ring complete. Venter with tubular ducts of 1 size............................................ quercus (Linnaeus)

- Antennae each with 5 or 6 segments. Legs well developed, each with 4 or 5 segments. Anal ring dorsal; anterior margin of ring open. Venter with tubular ducts of 2 sizes............................................... spatulatus Balachowsky

Figures

FIGURE 66. Adult female of Kermes quercus (Linnaeus), modified from Podsiadło (2014), page 265, fig. 3, published in Polish Journal of Entomology. A, antenna; B, base of hind leg; C, anterior thoracic spiracle; D, Disc-pores each with 4‒12 loculi; E, anal ring, situated on venter; F, macroducts, varying in size, some with inner ends wrench shaped in longitudinal section.