Waxiella subdenudata (Newstead)

Hodgson, Chris J. & Peronti, Ana L. B. G., 2012, 3372, Zootaxa 3372, pp. 1-265 : 226-228

Waxiella subdenudata (Newstead)

( Fig. 101; Map fig. 105)

Ceroplastes subdenudatus Newstead, 1917: 30 .

Gascardia subdenudata (Newstead) ; De Lotto, 1967b: 784.

Waxiella subdenudata (Newstead) ; De Lotto, 1971: 148; Hodgson, 1994: 604 (designated Lectotype).

Material studied: Ceroplastes subdenudata Newstead , Lectotype (here designated), ad ♀: Uganda, Entebbe , on Acacia sp. , 7.iv.1914, C.C. Gowdey ( BMNH, per H. Hargreaves): 1/1 (good).

Paralectotype ad ♀, as for lectotype ( BMNH): 1/1 (good) .

Unmounted material. “Female test. Incomplete, covering only the central portion of the dorsum of the ♀; this is more or less bluntly conical, the apex with an irregularly pointed patch of dull white wax, sometimes faintly stained with yellow or yellowish brown, with a conical nuclear spot; the rest of the body of the ♀ with a thin transparent coating of varnish-like secretion; stigmatic processes white, thread-like and curly, resting on the sides of the ♀. Greatest diameter 2.5–3.4; height 2.3–3.6 mm ” ( Newstead, 1917: 30). [This description is almost certainly of dried material from which much water had been lost from the soft wax].

Mounted material. Body almost round; stigmatic clefts shallow and quite broad; derm membranous apart from caudal process; caudal process well developed but small and conical; lateral tubercles indistinct. Length 2.2–2.25 mm, width 2.0– 2.1 mm.

Dorsum. Derm membranous; caudal process heavily sclerotised, but rather short and conical; caudal process about 0.4 um long, 0.35–0.4 um wide. Lateral and cephalic clear areas distinct, but dorsal clear area small or absent, apparently with sparse setae and pores. Dorsal setae each small, about 2–4 µm long, subequal to or shorter than width of basal socket (basal socket about 3–4 µm wide), generally with more or less parallel sides; sparse, absent from lateral and anterior clear areas. Dorsal pores: (i) loculate microducts of complex type, each 3–4 µm wide with 1–3 satellite loculi, those with 2 or 3 loculi most abundant, those with 1 loculus most abundant near margin; long inner filament not detected; sparsely scattered over dorsum but absent from anterior and lateral clear areas; presence of wax-plate lines uncertain due to paucity of pores; (ii) simple microducts not detected. Preopercular pores: about 10 along anterior margin of anal plates. Anal plates each with 3 large sockets of dorsal setae (all setae missing), plus a smaller subapical seta; length of each plate 103–125 µm; width of both plates combined 115–132 µm. Anal tube short, subequal to length of anal plates.

Margin. Marginal setae rather variable, with a row of 19–23 short, blunt spinose setae between eyespots anteriorly, each about 6.5–10 µm long; other setae elsewhere on margin also somewhat spinose but longer and more pointed, each 8–14 µm long; sparse around rest of margin, with 6–7 on each side between stigmatic clefts; anal lobes with a group of 3 setae, longest 40–60 µm long. Stigmatic clefts distinct, shallow, each with 2 types of stigmatic setae: (i) those along margin on venter each sharply spinose, often curved and slightly larger than marginal setae, each 10–18 µm long and 3–5 µm wide at base, with 8–13 [15 or 16 ( Newstead, 1917)] in each cleft; those present laterally shortest and straightest; and (ii) conical setae in an elongate group of 19–22 extending onto dorsum, each group at least twice as long as wide; most setae 6.5 µm wide at base and 6.5 µm long but each group with 1 or 2 larger setae, largest about 10 µm wide and long. Eyespots each about 30 µm wide.

Venter. Derm entirely membranous. Pregenital disc-pores abundant around genital opening and in preceding segment ( VI), plus about 4 mediolaterally associated with anogenital fold in segment V. Spiracular disc-pores sparse, in narrow bands near peritremes but broadening near margin to slightly narrower than group of sharplyspinose stigmatic setae; each band with about 28–35 disc-pores. Ventral microducts small, rather sparse and only slightly more abundant submarginally where larger and oddly shaped (submarginal microducts about 3 µm wide, medial ducts 2 µm wide); sparse medially on abdomen. Ventral tubular ducts entirely absent (apart from a single duct in cephalic region of lectotype specimen: outer ductule exceptionally long, about 30 µm; inner ductule not visible). Submarginal setae each 10–14 µm long, sparse but more abundant than marginal setae.

Antennae well developed, each with 7 segments, with a pseudoarticulation in segment III; total length 225–230 µm. Clypeolabral shield 166 µm long. Spiracles: width of each peritreme 45–48 µm. Legs well developed; each with a strong tibio-tarsal articulatory sclerosis; each claw with a minute denticle; claw digitules both broad; tarsal digitules subequal to length of claw digitules; dimensions of metathoracic leg (µm): coxa 107; trochanter + femur 135–140; tibia 100; tarsus 60–65, and claw 20.

Discussion. W. subdenudata is extremely similar to W. subsphaerica — indeed the former might be a synonym. The main difference between these 2 species, based on the available material, is that all the marginal setae between the eyespots on the anterior margin of the head of W. subdenudata are short and blunt and there are no flagellate marginal setae in this area (although the submarginal setae elsewhere are flagellate), whereas the marginal setae between the eyespots on W. subsphaerica are all quite long, most are spinose but sharply pointed but a few are sometimes flagellate. Also, W. subdenudata does tend to have fewer stigmatic setae of both types but there is some overlap with the data for W. subsphaerica ; in addition, the dorsal setae tend to be longer with convergent sides on C. subsphaerica , whereas they are shorter with more parallel sides on C. subdenudata . Whether these differences will hold when more material is available remains to be seen.

At the present time, there appears to be only 2 records of this species, the original on Acacia sp. from Uganda ( Newstead, 1917) and that of De Lotto (1967b) from Umkomaas, South Africa on Albizia sp. Specimens of the latter collection have not been seen during this study but, based on the present interpretation of this species, it seems likely that the latter record could be referable to W. subsphaerica .