Fiorinia phantasma ( Cockerell & Robinson, 1915 )

Watson, Gillian W., Williams, Douglas J. & Miller, Douglass R., 2015, The identity and distribution of Fiorinia phantasma (Cockerell & Robinson) (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae), with a new synonym, Zootaxa 4048 (2), pp. 291-300 : 295-298

Fiorinia phantasma ( Cockerell & Robinson, 1915)

( Figs 1–3 )

Fiorinia coronata Williams & Watson, 1988: 114 , 116. Holotype adult female, Solomon Islands: Guadalcanal, on Cocos nucifera , coll. E.S. Brown,?/06/1954 (BMNH). Syn. n.

Appearance in life is often quite distinctive, with some or all of the elongate second-instar females / exuviae containing pupillarial adult females having a median series of red-brown spots or transverse red-brown stripes on a yellow background ( Fig. 1 and Garcia 2011); however, sometimes there may be no striped individuals present in a colony. HDOA (2011), Anon. (2012) and Bethke (2012) mention a colour form that is entirely red, but this has not been present in the samples studied by GW.

Diagnosis (after Williams & Watson, 1988): Adult female on slide ( Fig. 3 A) about 0.65 mm long, broadly subrectangular, widest at about second abdominal segment, then narrowing abruptly to a triangular pygidium; body membranous except for lightly sclerotized pygidium; interantennal process ( Fig. 3 E) rounded, bearing short to long spicules, sometimes reduced in size and with only 1 or 2 spicules.

Pygidium ( Fig. 3 B) with notch at apex formed by parallel median lobes separated by about the width of 1 lobe; median lobes yoked by internal sclerosis, each lobe with pointed apex and 1 or 2 distal notches. Second lobes each bilobed, with inner lobule narrower than median lobe, with rounded apex approximately level with tip of median lobe; outer lobule smaller and shorter than inner lobule. Gland spines apparently absent. Long setae present between median and second lobes, and lateral to second lobes. Marginal ducts narrow, each about 6x as long as wide, numbering 4 on each side.

Ventral surface with perivulvar pores present in 5 elongate groups. Microducts present around submargins of pygidium, forward to about abdominal segment III; others present in median areas of free abdominal segments, and lateral to labium. Duct tubercles present in single, interrupted marginal row between mesothorax to abdominal segment II. Antennae set close together on margin of head, each bearing 1 long seta ( Fig. 3 E). Antennal spiracles each associated with 2 disc pores, each pore containing 3 loculi ( Fig. 3 C).

Second-instar exuviae moderately sclerotized, with a small median patch of thinner cuticle near the anterior margin located approximately over interantennal process of adult female. Pygidial margin with 5 marginal macroducts ( Fig. 3 D), each duct about 2x longer than wide.

An identification key to adult females of the better-documented species of Fiorinia in the Australasian, Nearctic and Neotropical Regions is provided. It has not been possible to include the following four species in the key, for the reasons discussed below:

(1) Fiorinia neocaledonica Lindinger, 1911 on Baeckia pinifoliae (Myrtaceae) in New Caledonia, a species with black second instar exuviae coated with white secretion ( Lindinger 1911). Mille et al. (in press) say that it is an endemic species found only in natural habitats in New Caledonia, but unfortunately do not comment on its morphology or appearance in life. No material of this species has been seen in this study.

(2) Fiorinia iavanica Leonardi, 1907 on Ilex sp. ( Aquifoliaceae ) in Indonesia (Java). According to MacGillivray (1921), median lobes rounded, without notches, divergent; second lobes rounded, not notched; perivulvar pores in 3 groups, numbering 33–35; and with 7–10 pores associated with each anterior spiracle. No material of this species has been seen in this study.

(3) Fiorinia geijeriae Froggatt, 1914 on Geijera salicifolia (Rutaceae) in Australia (New South Wales), a species with second-instar exuviae black except for a narrow brown margin. Examination of a slide-mounted syntype specimen and three adult females newly mounted from the original sample (BMNH), and non-type slidemounted specimens (USNM) indicate that this species is not a member of the genus Fiorinia . The median lobes are fused together and there is a pair of clavate, paraphysis-like internal sclerotizations on the pygidial margin. Examination of dry specimens from the original sample (BMNH) indicates that F. gei jeriae is not pupillarial, and the females form their scale covers beneath the epidermis of the leaf.

(4) Fiorinia drimydis (Maskell) was regarded as a nomen nudum by Deitz & Tocker (1979) and a nomen dubium by Henderson (2011), the only Maskell-collected material available to her being determined as immature specimens of Leucaspis sp.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Fiorinia phantasma appearance in life: (A) females and immature male scales (white) on Calophyllum neoebudicum leaf in American Samoa, 21. x. 2008; (B) adult females inside second-instar exuviae with some pigmented banding; (C) adult female inside second-instar exuviae with well-developed pigmented banding (photographs by M. Schmaedick); (D) adult female inside second instar exuviae with no pigmented banding on Arundinaria sp., U. K. (© Fera).

FIGURE 2. The original illustrations of Fiorinia phantasma, reproduced from Cockerell & Robinson (1915): “ 6. Fiorinia phantasma n. sp. End of abdomen of adult female. A. Antennae, adult female. 7. Fiorinia phantasma n. sp. End of abdomen of second stage female. ”

FIGURE 3. Fiorinia phantasma (Cockerell & Robinson); original illustration of the holotype of F. coronata from Williams & Watson (1988), with dorsal features shown on the left side and ventral characteristics on the right. A = body of adult female; B = detail of pygidium; C = detail of anterior spiracle; D = Dorsum of second-instar female pygidium, E = detail of antennae and inter-antennal process.