Antonina Signoret, 1875

Williams, D. J., 2001, African species of the mealybug genus Antonina Signoret (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae), Journal of Natural History 35 (6), pp. 833-848 : 834-835

Antonina Signoret

Antonina Signoret, 1875: 24 ; Zimmerman, 1948: 149; Ferris, 1953: 289; Williams and Watson, 1988: 20; Hendricks and Kosztarab, 1999: 94. Type species Antonina purpurea Signoret , by monotypy.

Comments

Major characters of Antonina are the absence of legs, except sometimes for the presence of pleural vestiges often accompanied by one or two setae. Antennae are reduced in size, with 2±4 segments each. The posterior end of the body is usually rounded and sclerotized at maturity, with the anal ring containing numerous pores and usually situated at the base of an anal tube, the ori®ce of the tube sometimes slightly dorsal in position and often surrounded by multilocular disc pores and sometimes with tubular ducts. The vulva is usually conspicuous, directed ventrally, and is displaced well forward so that the medial abdominal segmentation becomes obscure, although in many species, abdominal segments VI and VII are discernible medially but are very narrow. A. australis Froggatt , an Australian species, lacks tubular ducts but they are present in other species and are often of two sizes. Each duct is long and slender, with a ¯ange near the inner end, the inner end of the duct being either rounded or quadrate. Multilocular disc pores, trilocular and discoidal pores are usually present. Disc-like pores are ventral in position and range in size from being smaller than a trilocular pore to as large as a multilocular disc pore. Each disc-like pore often has a reticulate or granular surface and either a well de®ned or obscure rim. In some species these pores form a small group only, posterior to each second spiracle; in others, the pores form a submedial band occupying only one or two anterior abdominal segments, or a continuous band around the entire abdomen. They are absent entirely in only a few species. The function of these disc-like pores is not known but they may be modi®ed translucent pores that are present on the hind coxae of many adult mealybug species. In some species the translucent pores extend to the surrounding derm. Yang and Kosztarab (1967) illustrated the second instar nymph of A. zonata Green with a group of these disc-like pores behind each second pair of spiracles, but their main development is apparent in adult females, when they may emit pheromones.

The accompanying illustrations have been prepared from teneral females. Many species of Antonina have been described from older specimens, in which increasing size and sclerotization may mask important characters. It is often necessary to prepare many specimens from the original material to obtain appropriate specimens for illustration and description.

Apart from A. australis , which feeds on Cyperaceae , and occasionally A. graminis (also reported to feed on Cyperaceae ), all the other species of Antonina feed on Gramineae , usually between the leaf sheaths at the bases of the stems near ground level. A few species feed exclusively on bamboos: it is rare for any one species to feed on both bamboos and other grasses.