Melanaspis Cockerell

Hosseininaveh, Fatemeh, Nozari, Jamasb, Kaydan, Mehmet Bora & Hosseininaveh, Vahid, 2016, Molecular and morphological identification of pistachio armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4200 (4), pp. 523-543 : 528

Melanaspis Cockerell

Synonyms. Pelomphala MacGillivray, 1921 ; ( García et al., 2016). Type species. Melanaspis obscurus (Comstock) .

Field characters. Female scale usually thick, rough, dark, matte black, brown or dark grey, and sub-circular convex shape. Male puparium flattened oval, clearer.

Slide-mounted characteristics. Adult female pyriform, cephalothoracic cuticle without sclerotization. Thoracic tubercles absent or very low, but thick meta-pleural protrusion always present. Pygidium wide, always forming an apical angle greater than 90°, with 4 well-developed pairs of lobes (L1, L2, L3, L4), the fourth pair often reduced. Margin of segment V sclerotized, often to the level of segment IV. Medial and lateral pectinae small, short, degraded, rarely illustrated, present in the interlobular spaces. Paraphyses robust, thickened, fusiform, equal or unequal, developed on both sides of pygidium on either side of inter-lobular space 1 (between L1 and L2); 2 present between L2 and L3; and 2 between L3 and L4. The latter pair is less clear and is often confused with the marginal zone of sclerotization on segment V. Anal opening diameter equal to or less than that of L1, located anterior to 1/3 the apical or in the central area of the pygidium. Dorsal macroducts relatively few, long, with oval pores and different diameter. Ventral microducts present, very small; dorsal area of the pygidium with large cuticular oblique grooves separating segments VI–VII and V–VI up to level of latero-basal apophysis.