Antonina panica Hall

Williams, D. J., 2001, African species of the mealybug genus Antonina Signoret (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae), Journal of Natural History 35 (6), pp. 833-848 : 840-844

Antonina panica Hall

(®gures 3, 4)

Antonina purpurea Signoret, Hall, 1923: 55 (misidenti®cation).

Antonina indica var. panica Hall, 1925: 6 ; 1926: 33; 1927: 129. Lectotype adult m, Egypt, examined, here designated (BMNH).

Antonina indica var. panici Hall, Lindinger, 1931: 43 (unnecessary emendation).

Antonina natalensis Brain, Yang and Kosztarab, 1967: 23 (misidenti®cation).

Description

Adult female in life described originally as`... enclosed in a white felted sac which ®ts closely round the body of the insect. This sac has an opening to allow for the passage of the proboscis and another aperture at the posterior extremity through which a long white tubular ®lament projects’. Adult female on microscope slide, broadly oval, 1.75±3.40 mm long, 1.20±2.60 mm wide, teneral specimens membranous except for sclerotized posterior end of body, mature specimens sclerotized throughout except for head. Antennae each 130±150 m m long, with three or four segments. Positions of legs represented by remains of pleural vestiges containing 1±3 minute setae. Labium about 125 m m long, much shorter than clypeolabral shield. Anal ring with six setae, each 105±110 m m long, bluntly tipped to slightly knobbed, situated at base of anal tube 140±165 m m long, 95±120 m m wide. Vulva with lateral and posterior pairs of apophyses, lateral pair broadly lanceolate, posterior pair slender.

Dorsal surface with setae 20±25 m m long, either very slender and ¯agellate in some specimens, or stiOEer and slightly thicker; longest setae on mid-dorsum of abdominal segment VII 35 m m long; setae posteriorly and on margins of abdominal segments VI±VIII becoming thicker and longer, many 35±90 m m long and sometimes attaining a length of 125 m m on anal lobes. Multilocular disc pores, each about 10 m m in diameter and with 10±12 loculi, mostly with 11, present around anal tube opening, on margins of abdominal segment VII and sometimes present around prothoracic margins. Trilocular pores with heavily sclerotized rims, 6.25±7.50 m m wide, occurring in more or less single to double rows across segments. Discoidal pores scattered, each with heavily sclerotized rim, 3.75±5.00 m m in diameter. Tubular ducts, each with inner ¯ange and almost quadrate inner end, of two main sizes. A large type, about 12.50 m m long, 5.00± 6.25 m m wide, present across base of abdominal segment VIII, submedial area of abdominal segment VII and continuing around margins of body in a band to prothorax, the band often extending medially near intersegmental lines. A small type of duct, about 10 m m long, 3.75 m m wide (narrower than a trilocular pore), abundant over surface but grouped on most segments to form longitudinal columns, most noticeable in teneral specimens; columns becoming less obvious in mature specimens.

Ventral surface with similar arrangement of setae to that on dorsum; a pair of apical setae discernible, each 100±150 m m long. Trilocular pores as on dorsum, scattered; normally absent from spiracular openings. Multilocular disc pores as on dorsum, present at spiracular openings and almost encircling spiracles, occurring also in medial transverse rows on metathorax and abdominal segments and on margins of segments VI±VIII; also present surrounding venter of anal tube opening. Disc-like pores, each with narrow sclerotized rim and tessellated surface, varying in size from being smaller than a trilocular pore to almost as large as a multilocular disc pore, fairly numerous, forming a submedial band from metathorax or lateral remains of abdominal segment I to abdominal segment VI, sometimes reaching area posterior to vulva; many disc-like pores situated lateral to multilocular disc pores on anterior abdominal segments. Discoidal pores as on dorsum, scattered.

Material examined

Egypt: Hamet el Abeed, on Panicum turgidum , 16.xi.1923 (W. J. Hall) (LECTOTYPE and PARALECTOTYPES); Suez Road, 27 April 1923 (Debski) (PARALECTOTYPES); Eastern Desert, Wadi Nouega, 2 May 1925; Wadi Araba , 3 March 1926 (all W. J. Hall) (all BMNH) ; Sinai, Senapir Island , 31 May 1968 (Y. Ben- Dov) ( ICV) . Israel: Timna Valley , 23 April 1985 (A. Venezian) ( ICV) . Algeria: Oued AmaõÈs, Tassili N’ Ajjers , April 1969 (A. Balachowsky) ( MNHN) (all collected on Panicum turgidum ).

Comments

The diagnostic features of this species are multilocular disc pores occurring immediately next to the spiracular openings and almost surrounding the spiracles, and across the ventral medial areas of the thorax and abdomen; also large-type ducts present across the posterior end of the body and extending forwards around the margins to the prothorax. These large-type ducts vary slightly in size. Towards the anterior end they are sometimes scarcely larger than the narrow type and they always appear larger on the sclerotized areas of the abdomen. Depending on the symmetry of the specimen on the slide, they often appear displaced from the margin. The disc-like pores are fairly numerous and extend posteriorly from at least abdominal segments II±VI, usually lateral to the multilocular disc pores.

Most of the original specimens are mature but it has been possible to prepare a teneral female collected at Wadi Araba in Egypt, ®rst discussed by Hall (1927), on which ®gure 3 is based. Excellent preparations have been studied from Sinai in Egypt and from Israel through the courtesy of Y. Ben-Dov, from material originally discussed by Ben-Dov (1985). The specimens from Algeria, kindly made available by DanieÁle Matile-Ferrero, show a well de®ned marginal zone of large-type ducts; the ventral multilocular disc pores are more numerous than in other specimens and they extend around the margins of the prothorax. These multilocular disc pores on the prothorax are either present or absent in specimens from Sinai and Israel. All the material at hand is here regarded as being conspeci®c and an illustration has also been prepared from the material collected in Algeria (®gure 4) to show slight diOEerences.

Although De Lotto (1958) thought the species was identical with A. natalensis , A. indica var. panica is diOEerent and this name is here resurrected and raised to speci®c rank. Evidence suggests that A. panica may be con®ned to the grass Panicum turgidum . The mealybug was also recorded from Amman, Jordan, by Bodenheimer (1935) but no specimens have been seen for the present work. Yang and Kosztarab (1967) described and illustrated the ®rst instars of this species under the name A. natalensi s.

The lectotype designated is the larger of two adult females on the same slide labelled`type’ A-68, collected at Hamet el Abeed, Egypt on Panicum turgidum , 16 September 1923 (W. J. Hall) ( BMNH) and is clearly marked. The other specimen and three further adult females with the same data (two originally in E. E. Green’s collection) and one adult female labelled Suez Road, on Panicum turgidum , 27 April 1924 ( Debski ) are here designated paralectotypes. The lectotype was collected by W. J. Hall but in a later paper ( Hall, 1927), the collector was reported to be T. W. Kirkpatrick. When in Egypt, W. J. Hall scratched the data on all his slides with a diamond pencil because he had had previous experience of paper labels being entirely destroyed by insects. Sometimes Hall’s label data are di cult to decipher. Two specimens from Wadi Nouega are labelled` Cotype’ but were collected in 1925 and were not included in Hall’s original description .