Gossyparia spuria (Modeer)

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 : 124

Gossyparia spuria (Modeer)

( Fig. 56 , distribution map Fig. 90H )

Coccus spurius Modeer, 1778: 43 . Gossyparia spuria (Modeer) ; Cockerell 1899b: 268. Eriococcus spurius (Modeer) ; Ferris 1955: 164. Acanthococcus spurius (Modeer) ; Danzig 1980: 207. Gossyparia spuria (Modeer) ; Kozár 2009: 102.

Field characteristics: Live adult female body oval, chestnut brown, covered with white powdery wax ventrally. Ovisac ovoid, compact, greyish white, incomplete, covering only venter and body margins, leaving most of dorsum exposed.

Microscopic diagnosis: Body of slide-mounted adult female broadly oval. Antennae each with 7 (rarely 6) segments. Frontal lobes well developed; frontal tubercles absent. Legs well developed; tibiae of meso- and metathoracic legs each with 4 setae (median seta absent); claw and tibia each with digitules enlarged apically, each claw thick, with a small denticle. Anal lobes prominent and sclerotized, nodose and with sclerotized teeth; each lobe with 3 dorsal enlarged setae and 2 ventral flagellate setae. Anal ring with a partly double row of pores and bearing 8 setae. Cauda triangular.

Dorsum with numerous spinose setae regularly distributed, each seta long and slender with a bluntly pointed apex. Marginal setae larger than other dorsal setae, long and blunt, forming a marginal row, with 3 or 4 setae on each margin of each abdominal segment. Macrotubular ducts forming a wide band on lateral margins. Microtubular ducts long, scattered throughout.

Venter. Medial area with normal flagellate setae; setae in lateral areas stouter and stiff. Apical labial segment with 5 pairs of hair-like setae. Disc-pores each with 5 loculi in a single ring, distributed in sparse bands across all abdominal segments and scattered on thorax and head; a few trilocular pores present in medial area of thorax. Cruciform pores generally present in submedian band on thorax and abdominal segments, and a few on head. Macrotubular ducts of 2 sizes; (i) larger ducts present on margins, and (ii) smaller ducts present medially on abdominal segments.

Distribution: Gossyparia spuria is a species of Palaearctic origin that is now known from 46 countries in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions ( García Morales et al. 2016); in Iran, it has been collected from Azarbaijan -e Sharghi, Esfahan, Fars, Golestan, Hamadan, Kerman, Markazi and Yazd provinces ( Moghaddam 2013).

Host-plants: The scale is fairly polyphagous, having been recorded on host-plants in eight genera belonging to seven families ( García Morales et al. 2016); in Iran, it was found on Ulmus sp. ( Ulmaceae ) ( Moghaddam 2009).

Economic importance: Not known as a pest in Iran.

Natural enemies: None recorded in Iran.

Figures

FIGURE 56. Adult female of Gossyparia spuria (Modeer), reproduced from Williams (1985), page 381, fig. 15, with kind permission from the author and © the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

FIGURE 90. Distribution maps of scale insect species in Iran covered in this work. A, Drosicha turkestanica Archangelskaya; B, Ericerus farsicus Moghaddam & Faghih; C, Eriopeltis festucae (Boyer de Fonscolombe); D, Eulecanium ficiphilum Borchsenius; E, Eulecanium rugulosum (Archangelskaya); F, Eulecanium tiliae (Linnaeus); G, Exaeretopus tritici Williams; H, Gossyparia spuria (Modeer); I, Gueriniella serratulae (Fabricius); J, Hadzibejliaspis stipae (Hadzibejli); K, Icerya aegyptiaca (Douglas); L, Icerya purchasi Maskell.