Pedicellicoccus, Vea & Grimaldi, 2015

Vea, Isabelle M. & Grimaldi, David A., 2015, Diverse new scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) in amber from the Cretaceous and Eocene with a phylogenetic framework for fossil Coccoidea, American Museum Novitates 2015 (3823), pp. 1-80 : 46-47

Pedicellicoccus , new genus

TYPE SPECIES: Pedicellicoccus marginatus , n. sp., by present designation and monotypy.

OCCURRENCE: Myanmar: Kachin: near Tanai village. Albian-Cenomanian boundary.

ETYMOLOGY: The genus name Pedicellicoccus is from the Latin pedicellus, diminutive of pes, “foot or pedicel” and refers to the enlarged and bulbous pedicel of this new genus. Gen- der: masculine.

DIAGNOSIS: Pedicellicoccus differs from Electrococcidae and Pityococcidae by the combination of the following characters: body minute, head round and large relatively to body size (vs. relatively small), ocular sclerites each with apparently five or six pairs of simple eyes, arranged horizontally (vs. in a diagonally in Pityococidae), ventral eyes larger than lateral eyes (vs. of same size), not meeting medially (vs. not meeting medially in Pityococcus and Turonicoccus ); antenna 9-segmented with an exceptionally enlarged pedicel (vs. not enlarged in Pityococcidae ), heavily reticulated and with many short spinose setae; flagellar segments irregular in shape (vs. round), apical segment narrower; prescutum round, scutellum suboval; mesopostnotum almost as long as scutellum; basisternum with a median ridge; forewings with a narrow base and distally flat; hamulohalteres each with two hamuli; legs small; abdomen parallel sided, tapering from segment VI; penial sheath of Pityococcus - type (triangular, apically tapered and bifurcated); eversible endophallus present.

SPECIES INCLUDED: P. marginatus , n. sp.

COMMENTS: Pedicellicoccus , n. gen., is similar to Pityococcus by having a tapered abdomen, ending with a triangular, apically blunt and bifurcate penial sheath, with an endophallus. However, the antennal segments (with absence of blunt, short, fleshy setae in Pedicellicoccus ), head structures (eye rows arranged diagonally in Pityococcus , horizontally in Pedicellicoccus ), and forewing shape (apically flat in Pedicellicoccus ) all differ, including the extremely small size of Pedicellicoccus . The pedicel is extremely enlarged, which is known only in Turonicoccus , described in New Jersey amber ( Koteja, 2000b). However, Turonicoccus has more nodose antennal segments, similar to Pityococcus . Our phylogenetic analysis retrieved Pedicellicoccus included in the clade comprising Turonicoccus and Pityococidae, although the relationship among these remains unresolved. Turonicoccus had been assigned to Electrococcidae ( Koteja, 2000b) but Electrococcus and Turonicoccus were not retrieved as sister genera here. If Turonicoccus and Pedicellicoccus were considered to be in the family Pityococcidae , the morphological variation of this family would have to be expanded. Thus far, we consider Pedicellicoccus as a genus incertae familiae. This new fossil is among the smallest Coccoidea found in Burmese amber.