Icerya formicarum Newstead

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 : 80-81

Icerya formicarum Newstead

Icerya formicarum Newstead, 1897: 169 .

Newsteadiella formicarum (Newstead) ; MacGillivray (1921: 75).

Icerya formicarum Newstead ; Morrison (1928: 208).

Unmounted material. Adult female pink to brown in colour, covered with white or pale yellow waxy secretion, not forming longitudinal series of wax tufts on dorsum; waxy tassels present around margins, shorter and widely spaced at anterior end, longer and more tightly packed at posterior end; tassels at posterior end projecting above ovisac; two hemispherical tufts of wax present in anal region, one at each side of anal opening; ovisac fluted and curved upward; glassy filaments projecting from margin (adapted from Rao, 1951a).

Slide-mounted material. Adult female oval (second-instar nymph lectotype 2.1 mm long, 1.5 mm wide). Antennae 11 segmented. Eyes, mouthparts and legs as for tribe. Thoracic spiracles as for genus. Hair-like setae scattered on derm; long, robust hair-like setae associated with open-centre pores and longest around anal opening. Flagellate setae as for genus. Open-centre pores, each 19–20 µm in diameter, 13–14 µm long, with 16–20 outer loculi and without a cleft, present in marginal clusters and transverse rows on dorsal head and thorax,. Simple multilocular pores of two types found on dorsal surface: (i) pores, each 12–13 µm in diameter, with bilocular centre and 10–12 outer loculi, covering all body segments, and (ii) pores, each 10–11 µm in diameter, with trilocular or bilocular centre and 6–8 outer loculi, clustered with open-centre pores. Ovisac band made of two types of simple multilocular pores: (i) pores, similar to dorsal pores, forming inner ovisac band 5–7 pores wide, each pore 10–12 µm in diameter, with 10–12 outer loculi, and (ii) pores, similar to marginal pores, forming outer ovisac band 4–6 pores wide, each pore 8–9 µm in diameter, with trilocular (appearing triangular) or quadrilocular (appearing cruciform) centre and 6–8 outer loculi. Simple multilocular pores, each 8–10 µm in diameter, with bilocular centre and 3–5 outer loculi, scattered on ventromedial head, thorax and abdomen. Vulva as for genus. Cicatrix round to elliptical. Abdominal spiracles in 3 pairs. Anal tube and anal opening as for genus.

First-instar nymph with hair-like setae at abdominal apex in three pairs.

Type data. INDIA: Bombay District, in nests of Crematogaster subnuda (R.C. Wroughton) .

Type material. Lectotype here designated: 2 nd -instar nymph, “289 (Type). Icerya /formicarum, n.sp. /with Crematogaster /subnuda, M. Bombay /district. Wroughton/ Colln. Ex coll./Wasmann N. [unintelligible writing]” ( BMNH) . Paralectotypes: 1 st -instar nymph, “No 289 “A”/ Ripersia / formicola, Mask /with Crematogaster /subnuda, Bombay /district. Wroughton/coll. Ex coll./Wasmann ‘96”//“No 289 Types / Icerya formicarum /n.sp. Newstead./with Crematogaster / subnuda, Mayr. / Bombay district/Wroughton, Coll./ Ex coll. Wasmann ‘9” ( BMNH) .

Other material examined. INDIA: ad ♀, Andhra Pradesh, Narsapur Forest , ex unidentified plant, 26.x.2004 (N.B. Hardy) ( BME, CMU107 ) .

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

The paralectotype slide also has the type of Ripersia formicola Newstead. Handwritten notes accompany the lectotype and paralectotype slides. Note accompanying lectotype: “ Icerya formicarum Newst / India Cotypes./=Preadult stage of Icerya peninsularensis /Sp.nov. Rao MS/F. Cat. p. 24/V.P. Rao”. Note accompanying paralectotypes: “ Icerya formicarum, Newst. /and/ Ripersia formicicola Newst Mask. ?/ Bombay. Cotypes/ Icerya formicarum Newstead /=Preadult stage of I. peninsularensis sp.nov. /Rao a/s/V.P. Rao”. Icerya peninsularensis is here considered a nomen nudum (see below).