Rhodococcus turanicus (Archangelskaya)

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 : 92

Rhodococcus turanicus (Archangelskaya)

( Fig. 39 )

Lecanium coryli turanicum Archangelskaya, 1937: 47 . Eulecanium turanicum (Archangelskaya) ; Borchsenius 1949b: 173. Rhodococcus turanicus (Archangelskaya) ; Borchsenius 1957: 425.

Field characteristics: Live adult female rounded, strongly convex, almost spherical; lower part of body, attached to surface of the host, narrower than greatest width of insect; body reddish-brown, shiny, with depressed punctures.

Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female body almost circular, with stigmatic clefts not developed; anal cleft shallow.

Dorsum. Derm membranous on young female; developing sparse areolations and a small, strongly sclerotized area around anal plates at maturity. Setae each long and hairlike, distributed throughout. Simple pores present almost throughout, except on midline; preopercular pores absent. Tubular ducts small and sparsely distributed. Anal plates together quadrate, each plate with 7 or 8 long apical and 2 subapical setae. Anal ring small, narrow, and without setae.

Margin. Marginal setae on head and end of abdomen long and flagellate; other setae spinelike with rounded apices on rest of margins, not extending up anal cleft. Stigmatic setae differentiated, each spine bent, bluntly pointed and shorter than a marginal seta, numbering 2 per spiracular cleft.

Venter. Derm membranous. With 1 pair of long setae on pregenital segment (abdominal segment VII); 5 pairs of setae between antennal bases, and large, spinose setae frequent in submarginal ring; other setae normal. Pregenital disc-pores mostly each with 8−10 loculi, present around anogenital fold, and in transverse bands across other abdominal segments and metathorax and mesothorax; also forming a group near procoxa. Simple pores present throughout (not illustrated). Spiracular disc-pores each with 5 (occasionally 6) loculi, present in band 1 or 2 pores wide between each spiracle and margin, numbering 20−30 in each spiracular furrow. Microducts, each with an oval orifice, present throughout except on posterior abdominal segments. Tubular ducts of only 1 type, present in submarginal band. Antennae small, each with 6 thickened segments, third segment usually longest. Legs small, with broad segments, each with a tibio-tarsal articulation and articulatory sclerosis; tibia not much longer than tarsus; claw curved, thick, with a denticle near apex; claw digitules with small knobs, longer than claw; tarsal digitules similar but longer.

Distribution: Rhodococcus turanicus is known from 12 countries in the Palaearctic region ( García Morales et al. 2016). The species was recorded from Iran for the first time by Borchsenius (1957); there are no specimens in the Iranian museum ( Moghaddam 2013).

Host-plants: The species is moderately polyphagous, having been found on host-plants in 13 genera belonging to seven families ( García Morales et al. 2016). Its host-plants in Iran have not been recorded ( Moghaddam 2013).

Economic importance: Not of any economic importance in Iran.

Natural enemies: None recorded in Iran.

Figures

FIGURE 39. Adult female of Rhodococcus turanicus (Archangelskaya), modified from Tang (1991) page 435, fig. 53.