Davidsonaspis tovomitae Wei, Schneider, Normark & Normark, 2021

Wei, Jiufeng, Schneider, Scott A., Normark, Roxanna D. & Normark, Benjamin B., 2021, Four new species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Diaspididae, Aspidiotinae) from Panama, with a key to Panamanian species, ZooKeys 1047, pp. 1-25 : 1

Davidsonaspis tovomitae Wei, Schneider, Normark & Normark sp. nov.

Figure 3

Material examined.

Holotype: Panama • 1 adult female; Parque Nacional San Lorenzo Canopy Crane , Colón; 9.2802°N, 79.9754°W; 12.vi.2012, GE Morse & BB Normark leg.; on Tovomita longifolia ; MIUP (D3919A) . Paratype: Panama • 1 adult female; Parque Nacional San Lorenzo Canopy Crane , Colón; 9.2802°N, 79.9754°W; 15.i.2015; DA Peterson, GE Morse, H Shapiro, S Trujillo leg.; on Tovomita longifolia ; UMEC (D6433A) .

Description

(N = 2). Adult female not pupillarial. Appearance in life not recorded. Slide-mounted adult female 870-1060 μm long, 670-790 μm wide, broadest at mesothorax. Body outline broadly obovate. Antennae simple, each with one conspicuous long seta. Distance between antennae 160 μm. Without any disc pores associated with anterior or posterior spiracles. Lobes. Pygidium with 3 pairs of lobes extending out from posterior margin, well sclerotized. L1 large, apically convergent, each lobe oval in shape, with minute notch near midpoint of outer margin; L2 distinctly smaller than L1, with 1 or 2 small notches on outer margin; L3 similar in size and shape to L2, with 1 or 2 notches on outer margin and 0 or 1 notch on inner margin. Plates. Without plates between L1; with 2 plates between L1 and L2, flabellate, apically fringed, each slightly longer than L1, much longer than L2; three between L2 and L3, flabellate, apically fringed, each plate longer than L3; three anterior to L3, branched and elaborately fringed on apical and lateral margins, much longer than L3, each with internal microduct. Ducts. Dorsal macroducts of 1-barred type, dorsal submarginal macroducts about same size as marginal macroducts, long (120-140 μm) and narrowly ribbonlike, with minute orifices, few, only 10-15 on each side of pygidium. Also, with faux duct orifice on dorsum immediately anteriad of L1 - circular structure slightly larger than duct orifices, but without duct. Pre-pygidial dorsal macroducts few, shorter than those on pygidium, confined to margin and submargin, absent on segments III and IV, two present on each side of segments II, I, metathorax, and mesothorax. Ventral microducts shorter and thinner than dorsal macroducts, with a few present on submargin of each segment from abdominal segment V to prothorax. Paraphyses. Three pairs of paraphyses present on each side of pygidium, variable, with lateral member of each pair often minute or absent. Medial pair of paraphyses anteriad of L1, medial member of pair arising from near inner angle of L1, extending nearly to anus and terminating in rounded knob, lateral member of pair minute, forming part of sclerotized rim of faux duct orifice; pair of paraphyses between L1 and L2 also with medial paraphysis much larger than lateral paraphysis; pair between L2 and L3 usually about equal to each other in length, lateral member of pair sometimes obsolete. Anal opening nearly circular, maximum diameter 8 μm, located 23-25 μm (about 3 times diameter) from base of L1. Perivulvar pores absent.

DNA sequences.

DNA sequences from 3 loci of the holotype of Davidsonaspis tovomitae have been published: the large ribosomal subunit (28S; GenBank accession number KY219920), elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1α; KY221745), and carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CAD; MH916177). The small ribosomal subunit (16S) sequences of the primary bacterial endosymbiont, Uzinura diaspidicola , of the holotype has also been published (KY220578).

Informal synonyms.

The holotype of D. tovomitae has appeared in published phylogenetic trees, where it was labeled " Davidsonaspis ud3919" ( Schneider et al. 2018) or " Davidsonaspis undescr" ( Normark et al. 2019).

Remarks.

The only other known species in this genus is Davidsonaspis aguacatae (Evans, Watson, and Miller), found on avocados in Mexico. D. aguacatae had originally been assigned to Abgrallaspis Balachowsky ( Evans et al. 2009), but was later reassigned to a new genus Davidsonaspis Normark ( Normark et al. 2014). The new species can be distinguished from D. aguacatae in having a series of 3 plates anterior to L3, each as broad as L3 and elaborately fringed on apical and lateral margins; in D. aguacatae , plates anterior to L3 are narrower than L3 and only slightly fringed. D. tovomitae otherwise closely resembles D. aguacatae , and the two species form a clade in published molecular phylogenetic trees ( Schneider et al. 2018; Normark et al. 2019). The structure we refer to as a faux duct orifice anteriad of L1 is illustrated by Evans et al. (2009) but not mentioned in their description. In one of their 2 illustrations of the pygidium of D. aguacatae the structure is shown with a central dot, as if it were the circular base of a seta, but in D. tovomitae no seta is present there.

Host plant.

Tovomita longifolia (Rich.) Hochr. (family Clusiaceae )

Etymology.

The specific epithet is the Latin genitive of the host plant genus, Tovomita .

Distribution.

Panama ( Colón).

Figures

Figure 3. Davidsonaspis tovomitae Wei, Schneider, Normark & Normark sp. nov. Adult female, full body view, illustrated from the holotype (D 3919 A); expanded view of pygidium, illustrated from the holotype (D 3919 A).