Ceroplastes newsteadi Hodgson & Peronti, 2012

Hodgson, Chris J. & Peronti, Ana L. B. G., 2012, 3372, Zootaxa 3372, pp. 1-265 : 130-135

Ceroplastes newsteadi Hodgson & Peronti , spec. nov.

( Fig. 62; Map fig. 104; Table 5).

Material examined: Holotype ♀: Cameroon: left label: Ceroplastes / newsteadi / Hodgson & Peronti / Holotype ♀; right label: Ceroplastes / Bussei, Newst. / Type ♀ / BM 1945, 121 / On Cacao, Bibundi / -. ii.1905 / Busse coll n / no number ( BMNH): 1/1 (split into dorsum and venter, quite good; labelled C. bussei Newstead , a manuscript name) .

Paratype ♀: as for holotype ( BMNH, BM 1945.121 ): 1/1 (poor, in bits) .

Also: Côte d’Ivoire, Sangbekro, on Theobroma cacao , 14.iv.1979, G. Couturier ( MNHN #8036): 1/1 (fair; as C. toddaliae ); Tai, on Theobroma cacao , 25.ii.1979, G. Couturier ( MNHN #8029): 1/1 (good; as C. toddaliae ); Tai, Theobroma cacao , 6.v.1980, G. Couturier ( MNHN # 8834): 1/1 (good; as C. toddaliae ); Tai, on Craterispermum caudatum , 22.iii.1978, G. Couturier ( MNHN #7545): 1/1 (good; as C. toddaliae ); N’Gorodougou, N. Touba, on an unknown host, 17.vii.1978, G. Remaudiere ( MNHN #7459): 1/1 (fair). Eritrea, Adi Ugri, Hatyena, on Ficus dekdekena , 10.ii.1947, no coll. ( BMNH): 1/4 (fair-poor; as C. rusci ); Asmara, on Canna indica , 28.vii.1947, G. De Lotto ( BMNH): 1/2 (fair-poor; as C. rusci ); Asmara, on Phoenix canariensis , 23.iv.1949, G. De Lotto ( BMNH): 1/3 (good; as C. rusci ); Eastern slopes, Fagheria, on Arduina edulis, G. De Lotto (BMNH) : 1/2 (fair-good; as C. rusci ). Ethiopia, Holetta, 6.vi.1971, ex Salix subserrata , A104 CIE A 6808 ( BMNH): 2/4 (good). Kenya: Nakuru, on Coffea and Kei apple, 29.x.1929, T.J. Anderson ( BMNH): 1/3 (good, as C. floridensis ). Nigeria (Southern), on Blighia sapida , 2.vii.1977, D. Matile-Ferrero ( MNHN #6934): 1/1 (good). Senegal, Medina, on Citrus sp. , 10.ii.1983, Etienne ( MNHN #9254): 2/4 (good; as C. toddaliae ). Sierra Leone, on Kola ( Cola sp. ), no date, E. Hargreaves ( BMNH; IBE 1073): 2/2 (good; as C. floridensis Comst. ); on coconut, 14.vii.1924, E. Hargreaves ( BMNH): 1/1 (very poor, as C. actiniformis ). Tanzania, Chambezi, on?coconut, -. v.1990, no coll. ( BMNH): 1/1 (fair; as C. toddaliae ). Uganda, Kampala, on mango, 12.iii.1923, H. Hargreaves ( BMNH): 2/4 (fair; as C. denudatus ). Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dimonika, rte de Voula Troua, within an ant’s carton, 14.xi.1975, D. Matile-Ferrero ( MNHN #6400): 1/1 (fair).

Note. The following description was made almost entirely from the holotype specimen; details given in brackets (..) are from some other of the above specimens. Some data from some of the other material is also shown in Table 5.

Unmounted material. Not seen.

Mounted material. Body elongate oval and probably fairly convex, with shallow stigmatic clefts with abundant marginal setae; lateral tubercles distinct although perhaps small. Caudal process short and stout, probably directed rather upwards. Length about 3 (1.0–3.0) mm, width about 2 (0.75–2.2) mm.

Dorsum. Derm membranous apart from heavily sclerotised caudal process. Caudal process probably approximately round and about 1 mm (160–1125 µm) wide. Derm probably with 8 clear areas as normal; setae present in anterior clear area and often frequent on medio-dorsal clear area. Dorsal setae each mostly short, mostly with sides either slightly convergent or parallel sided, with a truncate apex but occasionally almost pointed; subequal to or shorter than width of basal socket, length 3.0–4.5 µm, basal socket width 4–5 µm (about as wide as shortest width of loculate microducts); a few, slightly longer setae have more converging sides; frequent throughout except in most clear areas. Dorsal pores: (i) loculate microducts of rusci-type most abundant, each about 5.5–7 µm widest; those with 2 satellite loculi sparse except in wax-plate lines and near margins where frequent; pores with 3 or more satellite loculi absent; wax-plate lines present; (ii) simple microducts present in all clear areas, each with a sclerotised rim; very sparse elsewhere. Preopercular pores present in a group of perhaps 10 (8–17); each group 1–2 deep. Anal plates each 145 (125–145) µm long, width of single plate about 100–125 (128–150) µm, each with 3 large basal sockets dorsally; shorter apical seta not detected. Anal tube about 1.5 times longer than length of anal plates; anal ring setae about 155 µm long.

Margin. Marginal setae strongly setose, each about 16–18 (12–25) µm long; number of setae rather variable, with maybe 14 (12–37) between eyespots, and on each side 2–3 (2–16) between each eyespot and anterior stigmatic setae, 0–4 (0–9) setae between stigmatic areas, and about 11 (22–41) on each side of abdomen; each anal lobe with 4 longer setae, longest about 60–65 (80) µm long. Stigmatic clefts shallow; stigmatic setae all sharply conical, with slightly convex sides; most about 10–13 (13–16) µm long, 8 (7–8) µm wide at base; setae extending from close to each eyespot along entire margin to well posterior to posterior cleft, with or without a short gap between clefts; with, on each side of specimen, about 32–47 (23–47) marginal setae plus 35–38 (11–43) nonmarginal stigmatic setae in each anterior cleft and 20–39 (20–57) marginal setae plus 30 (11–45) non-marginal stigmatic setae in each posterior cleft (totals per side 117–156 (98–143), each line broadening gradually in each cleft to generally about 4 (2–6) setae deep, and with non-marginal setae extending a long way on either side of each cleft; some clefts with most dorsad stigmatic seta clearly larger, up to 25 (16–18) µm long and 15 (10–12) µm wide at base; also with 2 or 3 small stigmatic setae on anterior margin between eyespots. Eyespots each about 33–35 (24–35) µm wide.

Venter. Derm entirely membranous. Pregenital disc-pores abundant around genital opening (segment VII) and across preceding segment, and then: segment V with 4 medially + 4–10 mediolaterally, IV 2 medially, III 4 medially, II 0–1 medially, and metathorax 0–1 medially. Spiracular disc-pores present in broad bands of at least 100–150, each band broadening and extending some distance along cleft margins; with a few extending medially towards inner end of spiracular apodemes. Ventral microducts showing nothing distinctive. Ventral tubular ducts present in cephalic region, each with a thin inner ductule and a small glandular end; with about 10 (2–24+) anteriorly on head; also present associated with anogenital folds but number uncertain, possibly very few (1 or 2). Submarginal setae setose, more abundant than marginal setae (sometimes less abundant), each about 15–18 (11–13) µm long.

Antennae each with 6 segments, segment III with several (1 or 2) pseudo-articulations; total length 290–295 (280–320) µm. Clypeolabral shield about 200 (165–175) µm long. Spiracles: width of peritremes 95–105 (55–80) µm. Legs well developed; each with a distinct tibio-tarsal articulatory sclerosis; claw denticles obscure or absent; claw digitules both broad and slightly shorter than tarsal digitules; dimensions of metathoracic legs (µm): coxa 150 (145–160); trochanter + femur 185 (175–215); tibia 115 (115–135); and tarsus 75 (68–100); claw 25 (23–27).

Discussion. C. newsteadi is clearly a member of the C. rusci -group but differs from the other members of this group in having the following combination of characters: (i) tubular ducts present in cephalic region; (ii) more than 100 stigmatic setae on each side, generally meeting between clefts; (iii) each group of stigmatic setae broadening to 4 or 6 setae deep in each cleft, and non-marginal setae extending a long way along margin laterally; (iv) nearly as many non-marginal as marginal stigmatic setae in each cleft; (v) stigmatic setae often present anterior to eyespots, and (vi) stigmatic setae sharply cone-shaped.

Although similar to C. newsteadi , some specimens from Eritrea ( Eritrea, Adi Ugri, Hatyena, on Ficus dekdekena , 10.ii.1947, no coll. (BMNH): 1/4 (fair-poor; as C. rusci ); Asmara, on Canna indica , 28.vii.1947, G. De Lotto (BMNH): 1/2 (fair-poor; as C. rusci ) and Ethiopia ( Ethiopia, Holetta, 6.vi.1971, ex Salix subserrata , A104 CIE A 6808 (BMNH): 2/4 (good)) listed above were at first thought to be a separate species. This may still be true but, after much study of all of this material, none of the differences seemed to be consistent. In particular, these specimens tended to have more marginal setae, particularly on each side between the clefts (see Table 5).

The status of the manuscript name C. bussei was discussed by Matile-Ferrero & Nonveiller (1984), who concluded that the name was a nomen nudum as suggested by several previous authors. In addition to the records given above, there are records of C. toddaliae on Coula edulis (Olacaceae) from Côte d’Ivoire ( Couturier et al., 1985) and on an indeterminate plant and on Citrus from Senegal ( Etienne & Matile-Ferrero, 1993). Although specimens from these collections was not seen during this study, it is considered they are almost certainly C. newsteadi .

C. newsteadi has been found in most countries across central Africa: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda; also perhaps from Mauritius. It has been collected on: Mangifera sp. (Anacardiaceae) , Arduina edulis (Apocynaceae) , Canna indica (Cannaceae) , Kei apple ( Dovyalis caffra ( Flacourtiaceae )), Ficus dekdekena (Moraceae) ,? Cocos nucifera , Dictyopserma album and Phoenix canariensis (Palmae) , Craterispermum caudatum and Coffea sp. (Rubiacea) , Citrus sp. (Rutaceae) , Salix subserrata (Salicaceae) , Blighia sapida (Sapindaceae) , and Theobroma sp. and Kola ( Cola sp. ) ( Sterculiaceae ).

Where: ant. hd set = number of marginal setae anteriorly between eyespots; post hd set = number of marginal setae between each eyespot and anterior stigmatic area; ant marg ss = number of marginal stigmatic setae in anterior cleft; ant. non-m. ss = number of non-marginal stigmatic setae in anterior cleft; lat.m set = number of marginal setae between clefts on each side; post m. ss = number of marginal stigmatic setae in each posterior cleft; post non-m. ss = number of non-marginal stigmatic setae in each posterior cleft; depth = number of rows of stigmatic setae in each cleft; ant mldp = most anterior segment on which multilocular disc-pores found; hd tub. ducts = number of ventral tubular ducts in cephalic region; and dent = presence of a claw denticle (where y = present, x = absent; h = hint).

Material studied: Type: Cameroon, Bibundi , on cacao, -. ii.1905, Busse ( BMNH) . Côte d’Ivoire, Tai , on Theobroma cacao , 25.ii.1979, G. Couturier ( MNHN #8029 ) ; Tai , Theobroma cacao , 6.v.1980, G. Couturier ( MNHN # 8834 ) ; Tai , on Craterispermum caudatum , 22.iii.1978, G. Couturier ( MNHN #7545 ) ; N’Gorodougou, N. Touba , on an unknown host, 17.vii.1978, G. Remaudiere ( MNHN #7459 ) . Eritrea, Asmara , on Canna indica , 28.vii.1947, G. De Lotto ( BMNH) ; Asmara , on Phoenix canariensis , 23.iv.1949, G. De Lotto ( BMNH) ; Eastern slopes, Fagheria , on Arduina edulis, G. De Lotto (BMNH) . Tanzania, Chambezi , on?coconut, -. v.1990, no coll. ( BMNH) . Uganda, Kampala, on mango, 12.iii.1923, H. Hargreaves ( BMNH) . Zaire, Dimonika , rte de Voula Troua, within an ant’s carton, 14.xi.1975, D. Matile-Ferrero ( MNHN #6400 ) .

Other specimens (see text): Eritrea, Adi Agri , Hatyena, on Ficus dekdekena , 10.ii.1947, coll? ( BMNH) ; Ethiopia, Holleta , Salix subserrata , 6.vi.1971, coll? ( BMNH) .

Cryptic or sibling species. Mauritius, Reduit, on Dictyosperma album , -. ix.1990, J.R. Mamet & J.R. Williams ( BMNH): 3/7 (poor; as C. spicatus ).

Name derivation: the specific name newsteadi is in honour of Dr. Robert Newstead who named many of the species covered in this review and who intended to describe this species (as Ceroplastes bussei ) but never did.