ASTEROLECANIIDAE Cockerell

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 : 21

Family ASTEROLECANIIDAE Cockerell

The family Asterolecaniidae (pit scales) contains about 247 species in 25 genera worldwide ( García Morales et al. 2016). The pit scales known from Iran include five genera and seven species.

Appearance in life: Members of the Asterolecaniidae are relatively diverse, but a typical adult female pit scale usually lives in a depression or pit in the host’s surface and secretes a dorsal translucent waxy test whose margins are attached tightly to the substrate except for a small section at the rear, where crawlers may escape. The test (usually round / oval / ellipsoidal / oblong or elongate-oblong) is often yellow or green and frequently has a fringe of pale filaments around the margin. The saclike body of the insect lacks visible segmentation.

Diagnostic characters: The main diagnostic characters of the Asterolecaniidae are the absence of legs, and the presence of: sessile 8-shaped pores ( Fig. 1A ) that form a line or band around the body margin; antennae ( Fig. 1B ) reduced to unsegmented tubercles each bearing a few setae; stigmatic furrows ( Fig. 1C ) often present between each spiracle and body margin, each containing a row of quinquelocular disc-pores, the posterior furrows never branched; dorsal tubular ducts ( Fig. 1D ) each with a small indentation part-way along its length and a much enlarged, truncate inner end; a simplified anal opening ( Fig. 1F ), rarely with 2 rows of pores; anal area often with a lateral sclerotized bar and arched plate; and a pair of dorsal tubes ( Fig. 1E ) only present in genera feeding on bamboos.

KEY TO GENERA OF ASTEROLECANIIDAE IN IRAN, based on slide-mounted adult females.

1(0) Anal opening with 0‒2 setae. Posterior end of body without notch.............................................. 2

- Anal opening with 4 or 6 setae. Posterior end of body with a notch.............................................. 3

2(1) Margin of anal opening with 2 setae..................................................... Asterodiaspis Signoret

- Margin of anal opening without setae.................................................. Palmaspis Bodenheimer

3(1) A pair of submedian dorsal tubes present near posterior end of abdomen. On bamboo hosts only.... Bambusaspis Cockerell

- A pair of submedian dorsal tubes absent from near posterior end of abdomen. Hosts various, including bamboos......... 4

4(3) Dorsal 8-shaped pores distributed in groups in median, submedian and submarginal areas..................................................................................................... Asterolecanium Targioni Tozzetti

- Dorsal 8-shaped pores scattered..................................................... Russellaspis Bodenheimer

Figures

FIGURE 1. Asterolecaniidae adult female morphology, developed from Russell (1941) page 7, fig. 1. A, eight-shaped pore; B, antenna; C, stigmatic furrow containing spiracular disc-pores; D, dorsal tubular duct; E, dorsal tube; F, anal opening.