Cerococcus artemisiae (Cockerell)

Hodgson, Chris, 2020, A review of neococcid scale insects (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccomorpha) based on the morphology of the adult males, Zootaxa 4765 (1), pp. 1-264 : 170-173

Cerococcus artemisiae (Cockerell) ( Fig. 67 )

Lecaniodiaspis artemisiae Cockerell 1897, 514 . Type data: USA, New Mexico, Embudo, on Artemisia sp., 25/09/1897, by T.D.A. Cockerell. Lectotype, female, by subsequent designation ( Lambdin & Kosztarab 1977, 60 –64). Type depository: USNM.

Solenophora coloradensis Cockerell 1898, 262 . Type data: USA, Colorado, Cañon City, on Atriplex canescens , by E. Bethel. Syntypes, female. Type depository: USNM. Junior synonym ( Lambdin & Kosztarab 1977, 2).

Cerococcus coloradensis (Cockerell) ; Green 1917, 80. Change of combination.

Cerococcus artemisiae (Cockerell) ; Ferris 1955, 31. Change of combination.

Material examined. USA, New Mexico, Embudo, on Artemisia sp. (Compositae), no date, Cockerell coll ( USNM, loan 2017544) (Cockerell collection, USNM): 1/1ad ♂ (fair, with head slightly deformed and most of one antenna missing).

Mounted material: quite small, total body length about 1.12 mm; antennae distinctly rather short; body with very few setae, fleshy setae (fs) on body possibly absent, fs on legs similar to hs but broader; length of fs on antennae about equal to width of antennal segments. Wings about 3/4 total body length and about 4/9th as wide as long.

Head: appearing rather oval in dorsal view; width across genae about 170 μm. Median crest (mc) broadest posteriorly and reticulated; with (on each side) 3–5 hs dorsal head setae (dhs) + 4 simple pore-like structures; preoccipital ridge (por) absent. Mid-cranial ridge: dorsal ridge (dmcr) present but short; ventral ridge (vmcr) apparently absent; with a narrow area of reticulation anteriorly, which quickly broadens posteriorly, fusing with ocular sclerite (ocs); with a total of 7 hs ventral mid-cranial ridge setae (vmcrs) anterior to ocular sclerite. Genae (g) with rather faint polygonal reticulations, each reticulation quite large and without inner microridges; genal setae (gs) absent. Eyes: with two pairs of round simple eyes; dorsal eyes (dse) subequal in width to ventral eyes (vse), each 34–42 μm wide. Ocelli (o) absent. Ocular sclerite (ocs) sclerotised and polygonally reticulated throughout, each reticula- tion quite large, without inner microridges. Preocular ridge (procr) with ventral arm extending to almost level with lateral margin of ventral eyes; dorsal arm extending to anterior margin of dorsal eyes, where it fuses with extension from postocular ridge. Postocular ridge (pocr) strongly developed, extending dorsally past posterior margin of each dorsal eye where it divides, anterior arm extending around margin of simple eye (becoming less sclerotised ventrally, where it fuses with preocular ridge) and posterior arm extending a short distance medially. Dorsal ocular setae (docs) absent. With a strong sclerotised ridge extending posteriorly from between ventral eyes almost to preoral ridge. Ventral head setae (vhs): 7 hs on each side, between and anterior to each ventral eye; without setae posterior and laterad to ventral eyes. Preoral ridge (pror) possibly moderately well developed. Cranial apophysis (ca) possibly rounded but unclear.

Antennae: 10-segmented and filiform; 502 μm long (ratio of total body length to antennal length 1:0.45). Scape (scp): 34–37 μm long, 50 μm wide, with 2 hs on ventral surface and 2 hs on dorsal surface. Pedicel (pdc): length 50–53 μm, width 36–39 μm; with a few concentric ridges; with 4 or 5 fs + 6 hs. Segments III–X each 19–23 μm wide: fs 19–23 μm long; lengths of segments (μm): III 68–75; IV 58; V 56; VI 60; VII 50; VIII 46 and IX 42; ap- proximate number of setae per segment: III 0 fs + 2–4 hs + 1 sensilla basiconica; IV 10 fs + 5–7 hs; V 11 fs + 3 hs; VI 17 fs + 2 hs; VII 10 fs + 6 hs; VIII 10 fs + 1 hs; IX 10 fs + 3 hs (bristles, if present, undifferentiated). Segment X 50 μm long; not constricted apically; with 4 capitate setae (cap), 10 fs, 2 sensilla basiconica (sb); and with 3 or 4 bristles but these not obviously differentiated.

Thorax. Prothorax: pronotal ridge (prnr) well-developed but not fused dorsally; with a slight, striated, lateral pronotal sclerite (prn); without lateral pronotal (lpns) setae. Medial pronotal setae, post-tergites and post-tergital setae absent. Sternum (stn 1): median ridge not sclerotised but with radial ridges; with a quite strong transverse ridge; without prosternal setae (stn 1 s). Anteprosternal (astn 1 s) and antemesospiracular setae (am 2 s) absent.

Mesothorax: prescutum (prsc) 54 μm long but probably laterally folded and therefore probably longer; 124 μm wide; sclerotised but not reticulated; prescutal ridges (pscr) and prescutal suture (pscs) well developed. Scutum (sct): median membranous area 132 μm wide, 62 μm long; scutal setae (scts) absent; lateral margins sclerotised but not reticulated; prealar ridge quite well developed. Scutellum (scl) 145 μm wide, 66 μm long; with an inverted Ushaped scutellar ridge (sclr); probably not tubular but with a large foramen; scutellar setae (scls) absent. Basisternum (stn 2) 251 μm wide, 133 μm long; without a median ridge (mdr), but bounded anteriorly by a strong marginal ridge (mr) and posteriorly by strong precoxal ridges (pcr 2); without basisternal setae (stn 2 s); lateropleurite (lpl) broad, with a fairly strong extension from marginal ridge anteriorly; furca (f) well developed, narrow-waisted, arms very divergent and extending about 2/3rds to marginal ridge. Mesopostnotum (pn 2) and postnotal apophysis (pna) well developed. Area bounded anteriorly by scutellum and laterally and posteriorly by mesopostnotum not sclerotised. Mesepisternum (eps 2) not reticulated; subepisternal ridge well developed. Postalare (pa) not reticulated anteriorly; without postalare setae (pas). Mesothoracic spiracle (sp 2): peritreme 23 μm wide. Postmesospiracular setae (pm 2 s) absent. Tegula (teg) present, with 1 or 2 hs tegular setae (tegs) on each side.

Metathorax: with a single pair of metatergal setae (mts). Dorsospiracular setae (dss) absent. Dorsal part of metapleural ridge (plr 3) absent and without a suspensorial sclerite (ss). Ventral part of metapleural ridge well developed; metepisternum (eps 3) unsclerotised anteriorly, without postmetaspiracular setae (eps 3 s) on either side. Metepimeron (epm 3) sclerotised but without setae. Antemetaspiracular setae (am 3 s) absent. Metathoracic spiracle (sp 3): width of peritreme 22–25 μm. Metasternum (stn 3) membranous, without either anterior metasternal setae (amss) or posterior metasternal setae (pmss).

Wings: hyaline, possibly 900 μm long, 375–400 μm wide (ratio of length to width 1:0.43; ratio of total body length to wing length 1:0.73); alar lobe (al) and alar setae (als) absent. Hamulohalteres absent.

Legs: metathoracic legs possibly marginally longest. Coxae (cx) lengths: I 86–95; II 95–100; III 91 μm long; coxa III with 12–15 fs + 11 hs; long apical setae on each coxa 46–50 μm long. Trochanter (tr) + femur (fm): I 211–216; II 186–191; III 207–220 μm long; trochanter III with about 3 or 4 fs + 3–5 hs; long trochanter seta up to 41–44 μm; femur III with 20–22 fs + 22–25 hs. Tibia (ti): I 165–170; II 161–174; III 195 μm; tibia III with a total of 27–36 setae, mainly fs and hs, a few becoming spur-like on distal third of leg; with one fairly thin apical spur (tibs), length 19–24 μm. Tarsi (ta): I 99–104; II 107–112; III 103–116 μm long (ratio of length of tibia III to tarsus III 1:0.56); tarsus III with 32 or 33 setae, mainly spur-like; tarsal spurs barely differentiated, each 21 μm long; tarsal campaniform pore present; tarsal digitules (tdt) significantly shorter than claw. Claws (c) quite long and thin, rather longer than width of tarsi, slightly curved, with a strong denticle; length: III 26 μm; claw digitules (cdt) slightly longer than claw.

Abdomen: segments I–VII: tergites (at) and sternites (as) slightly sclerotised. Caudal extension (ce) of segment VII absent. Dorsal setae (ads) (totals): segments I–VII each with 2 or 3 hs. Pleural setae: dorsopleural setae (dps) (on each side): III–V each with 1 hs; VI & VII each with 0–2 hs; ventropleural setae (vps) (on each side): one seta on one side of segment V. Ventral setae (avs) (totals): II 2 hs; III 3 hs; IV–VII each with 4 hs.

Segment VIII: tergite (at) slightly sclerotised, with 4 hs (ante-anal setae (aas)?); sternite (as) more heavily sclerotised, with 2 hs ventral abdominal setae (avs); caudal extension (ce) absent but with 0–3 hs dorsopleural setae. Glandular pouches (gp) absent.

Genital segments: penial sheath (segment IX and style fused) forming a single triangular structure; total length from base of sternite VIII 166 μm (ratio of total body length to penial sheath length 1:0.15); width at base of sternite VIII 96 μm. Penial sheath broad anteriorly, with a sclerotised border; ventrally possibly rather membranous but without an obvious basal membranous area; rather more sclerotised dorsally; ventrally with basal rod (bra) dividing anterior end into two lateral areas, each lateral membranous area + margin with 2 or 3 long hs + 4 or 5 short hs; dorsally with 1 long and 1 short setose seta. Penial sheath rapidly tapering to a fine apex posteriorly, sclerotised, particularly posteriorly. Basal rod (bra) extending anteriorly to margin of sternite VIII: length 43 μm anterior to aedeagus and with no posterior extension. Aedeagus (aed) sword-shaped, but with a narrow membranous margin along dorsal surface; probably usually held within groove on ventral surface of penial sheath but displaced to one side on slide; length 116 μm (ratio of aedeagus length to anterior part of basal rod length 1:0.37); apex almost at tip of style. Style with 5 short setae on each margin posterior to base of aedeagus, and with 6 small sensilla near apex.

Comment. Cerococcus artemisiae differs from the other two species described here (character-states on other two species in brackets): head: (i) poorly developed dorsal mid-cranial ridge (well developed); (ii) absence of ventral mid-cranial ridge (well developed); (iii) “interocular ridge” joining preocular ridge to postocular ridge present dorsad to dorsal simple eyes (ventral to simple eyes); (iv) presence of small pores on median crest (absent); (v) ocular sclerite with no setae laterad to ventral eyes (abundant laterad to vse), and (viii) preocular ridge well developed (poorly developed or absent). Abdomen: (i) some dorsal abdominal setae present on each segment (absent), and (ii) glandular pouch and glandular pouch setae absent (present). These differences suggest that C. artemisiae (from the New World) is significantly different from the two Antecerococcus species (from the Old World) described below.

C. artemisiae shares with A. indicus described below: (i) absence of reticulations on mesothorax; (ii) apparently only one tibial spur per leg, and (iii) absence of dorsospiracular setae (present on A. ornatus ).

Figures

FIGURE 67. Cerococcus artemisiae (Cockerell). Macropterous male. (Cerococcidae). Where A=cranial apophysis and R=dermal reticulations on ocular sclerite.