Pulvinaria neocellulosa Takahashi, 1940

Tanaka, Hirotaka & Kamitani, Satoshi, 2020, Review of the Pulvinaria (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) species of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Zootaxa 4868 (3), pp. 408-422 : 409-411

Pulvinaria neocellulosa Takahashi, 1940

( Fig. 1 )

Pulvinaria neocellulosa Takahashi, 1940: 24 ; Tao et al, 1983: 83; Ben-Dov, 1993: 272; Tanaka & Amano, 2005: 81.

Material examined. JAPAN, Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa Is.: Kunigami-son, Hentona , on Murraya paniculata , 17.iii.2004, coll. H. Tanaka, 5 adult females mounted singly (2 EUMJ, 3 ELKU); Naha-shi, Syurisakiyama-cho, on Bischofia javanica , 13. xii.1999, coll. T. Uesato, 3 adult females mounted singly (2 EUMJ, 1 ELKU); Ogimi-son, on Ficus virgata , 18.iii.2004, coll. H. Tanaka, 4 adult females mounted singly (2 EUMJ, 2 ELKU) .

Redescription. Live appearance: Body of adult female elongate oval, usually flat. Before oviposition, entire dorsum clear yellow and without visible wax. Ovisac-producing adult female not seen.

Slide-mounted adult female (n = 12). Body elongate oval, 1.9–3.1 mm long, 0.9–1.9 mm wide, margin with a distinct and relatively deep indentation at each stigmatic cleft; anal cleft approximately 1/4–1/6 of body length.

Dorsum. Derm membranous, dermal areolations well developed and forming a distinct polygonal pattern in matured adult females. Setae spiniform, frequent, scattered over entire dorsum, each 4–8 µm long with a welldeveloped basal socket. Preopercular pores oval to circular, each 2–3 µm in diameter, barely sclerotised and often difficult to see and count, with 6–18 present anterior to anal plates. Tubular ducts and microducts frequent throughout dorsum, each one situated within an areolation ( Fig. 1 DA). Dorsal tubercles of normal convex type present in submarginal areas, with 2–4 between anterior stigmatic clefts, and each side with 1–2 between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts, and 0–2 between posterior stigmatic cleft and anal cleft. Anal plates together quadrate; each plate 94–144 µm long, 55–71 µm wide, with a well-developed supporting bar, a slightly convex posterolateral margin and 4 apical setae. Ano-genital fold with 1–2 pairs of setae along anterior margin and 2 or 3 pairs laterally. Anal ring bearing 6 setae. Eyespots situated in submarginal area.

Margin. Marginal setae with well-developed basal sockets, most setae each 25–106 µm long, longer than a median stigmatic spine, often curved, with rather blunt or simple pointed apices; each side with 11–22 setae between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts. Stigmatic clefts distinct and rather deep, each containing 3–5 stigmatic spines (mostly 3), median spine 38–61 µm long, approximately 1.3–7 times as long as a lateral spine.

Venter. Derm membranous. Multilocular pores each 5–7 µm wide, with 5–8 (usually 7) loculi, present around genital opening and on medial areas of preceding 4 or 5 abdominal segments; a small group also present lateral to each meso- and metacoxa. Spiracular pores each 3–4 µm wide, mostly each with 5 loculi, present in rather narrow bands 1–3 pores wide between margin and each spiracle; anterior bands each containing 23–39 pores, posterior bands each with 16–45 pores. Microducts scattered throughout venter. Tubular ducts of three types: type I each with large outer ductule (3–4 µm wide and 8–10 µm long), a stout inner ductule (2–3 µm wide and 10–15 µm long) and a well-developed flower-shaped terminal gland, present in posterior-medial area of head, medial areas of all thoracic segments and anterior abdominal segments, also in inner submarginal areas of head, thorax and anterior abdominal segments; type II tubular ducts each with fairly small outer ductule (2–3 µm wide and 5–8 µm long) and a shallow cup-shaped invagination leading to an long and narrow inner ductule (<1 µm wide and 10–15 µm long) with a well-developed terminal gland, mostly occurring in medial area of the posterior abdominal segments and submarginal areas of head, thoracic and abdominal segments; and type III ducts similar to type II but each with a short, filamentous inner ductule (<1 µm wide and 1–3 µm long) and a minute terminal gland, present in a broad submarginal band on head, thorax and abdomen intermixed with type II ducts, but ducts on head apex scarce or absent. Posterior 3 abdominal segments each with 1 pair of long ventral setae in medial area. With 2–4 pairs of long setae between antennal bases, 0–2 pairs of long setae on area mesad of procoxa, and occasionally long setae also present on medial area of some thoracic or abdominal segments; other setae short and fine, distributed over entire venter. Spiracles normal for the genus, rarely surrounded by week sclerotised spiracular plates; peritreme widths: anterior spiracle 39–58 µm, posterior spiracle 47–62 µm. Legs well developed, each with a completely articulated tibio-tarsal joint and an articulatory sclerosis; claw without a denticle; both claw digitules rather broad and slightly shorter than thin tarsal digitules. Hind trochanter + femur 210–250 µm long, hind tibia 155–188 µm long, and hind tarsus 78–95 µm long. Antennae each 7 or 8-segmented (mostly with 8 segments), 328–382 µm long. Labium 40–85 µm wide, 65–95 µm long.

Host-plants in Japan. Moraceae : Ficus virgata ; Phyllanthaceae : Bischofia javanica ( Tanaka & Amano 2005) ; Rutaceae : Murraya paniculata . Worldwide host-plant records for this species are given by García Morales et al. (2016).

Remarks. Pulvinaria neocellulosa is similar to P. aurantii and P. polygonata in having (i) well-developed dermal areolations and a distinct polygonal sclerotised pattern on the dorsum; (ii) the same number of loculi in the multilocular pores, and (iii) in having the same distribution of type III ventral tubular ducts. It differs from P. aurantii and P. polygonata in body colouration in life, which is clear yellow across the entire dorsum ( P. aurantii and P. polygonata are greenish brown to greyish brown with a dark brown longitudinal line in the centre of the dorsum); and in the shape of the marginal setae, which are relatively blunt or simply pointed apically (in P. aurantii and P. polygonata , many of the marginal setae are slightly spatulate, frayed or split apically). Important diagnostic morphological character states for P. neocellulosa plus a comparison with the type species of the genus, P. vitis , are summarised in Table 1. Pulvinaria neocellulosa can be separated from other Pulvinaria species distributed in Ryukyu Islands and P. vitis by condition of dermal areolation, location of eyespots, shape of marginal seta apices, Type III ventral tubular duct distribution, the number of loculi in each multilocular pore, and the number of stigmatic spines in each stigmatic cleft.

Tanaka &Amano (2005) gave a fairly good, detailed description of P. neocellulosa , but they said that the marginal setae have blunt apices only. However, when making the redescription above it was found that in some of the specimens collected in the Ryukyu Islands, P. neocellulosa also has some marginal setae with simple pointed apices.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pulvinaria neocellulosa Takahashi, 1940, adult female collected in Okinawa prefecture in 1999 (modified from Tanaka & Amano 2005). ANT, antenna; AP, anal plate; DA, dermal areolations; DMD, dorsal microduct; DS, dorsal seta; DT, dorsal tubercle; DTD, dorsal tubular duct; LG, leg; MP, multilocular pores; MS, marginal setae; POP, preopercular pores; SDP, spiracular disc pore; SSP, stigmatic spines; VMD, ventral microduct; VTD, ventral tubular ducts of types I–III. Scale bars: 100 µm for ANT, AP, DA and LG; 50 µm for MS and SSP; 5µm for DMD, VMD; 10 µm for others.