Icerya travancorensis Rao, 1951

Unruh, Corinne M. & Gullan, Penny J., 2008, Identification guide to species in the scale insect tribe Iceryini (Coccoidea: Monophlebidae), Zootaxa 1803 (1), pp. 1-106 : 98-99

Icerya travancorensis Rao

Icerya travancorensis Rao, 1951b: 140 .

Unmounted material. Adult female with tassels of white or pale yellow wax present around margin. Anterior tassels short, thick and projecting upward. Posterior tassels narrow, elongate and tapering, forming a covering over ovisac. Dorsal surface with 3–5 tufts of wax. Antennae and legs black ( Rao, 1951b).

Slide-mounted material. Adult female 5.0– 8.2 mm long, 3.0– 4.4 mm wide ( USNM paratype ♀ 8.2 mm long, 4.7 mm wide). Antennae 10 or 11 segmented (when 10 segmented, 4thand 5thsegments fused). Eyes, mouthparts and legs as for tribe. Thoracic spiracles as for genus. Hair-like setae densely covering dorsal surface, longest around anal opening and at posterior abdomen; finer hair-like setae scattered on venter, longest and densest between antennae and surrounding mouthparts. Flagellate setae distributed as for genus. Opencentre pores absent. Simple multilocular pores, each 10–13 µm in diameter, with bilocular centre and 8–10 µm outer loculi, with or without protruding projection, scattered on dorsal surface, forming dense clusters around margin and medial and submarginal clusters on head and thorax. Ovisac band 4– 6 pores wide at anterior edge, 8–10 pores wide around lateral edges, made of simple multilocular pores of one type, similar to pores on dorsum, each pore 10–12 µm in diameter, with bilocular centre and 6–8 outer loculi. Simple mul- tilocular pores, each with round to bilocular or trilocular centre and 4–6 outer loculi, scattered on ventromedial head, thorax and abdomen; densely clustered around mouthparts. Cicatrices numbering 3, relatively small, reniform, central cicatrix largest. Abdominal spiracles in 3 pairs. Anal tube as for genus; anal opening surrounded by several hair-like setae.

Type data. INDIA: Travancore, Munnar, ex Hypericum mysorensis .

Type material. Holotype: ad ♀ ( INPC) . Paratypes: several slide-mounted and dry ad ♀♀ ( INPC); 1 ad ♀ (one slide), dozens of crawlers (seven slides) ( USNM) .

Taxonomic notes. Refer to I. natalensis group for discussion of similar species.

Rao believed that this species externally resembled I. aegyptiaca but differed by the shape of the cicatrices, the absence of other pore types, the dense covering of dark setae and conspicuous tufts of setae on the derm.

The paratypes in the USNM collection were slide-mounted by PJG in September, 2007. The labels on the slides are a reduced photocopy of the label included with the dry material. The first-instar nymphs were found in the ovisac of the single adult female.