Crypticerya minima (Morrison)

Unruh, Corinne M. & Gullan, Penny J., 2008, Identification guide to species in the scale insect tribe Iceryini (Coccoidea: Monophlebidae), Zootaxa 1803 (1), pp. 1-106 : 34-35

Crypticerya minima (Morrison)

Icerya minima Morrison, 1919: 64 .

Crypticerya minima (Morrison) ; Unruh & Gullan (2008: 26) .

Unmounted material. Dried adult female very dark reddish to blackish red, dorsum covered with faint whitish powdery and cottony secretion. Dorsum strongly and irregularly wrinkled transversely (adapted from Morrison, 1919).

Slide-mounted material. Adult female elongate, oval, 2.0– 2.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide (lectotype 2.4 mm long, 1.5 mm wide), typically broadest across posterior. Antennae 9 segmented. Robust setae of varying length (up to 200 µm long) sparsely scattered on dorsum, longest marginally, shortest on ventral surface, tips of setae with blunt apices. Flagellate setae distributed as for genus. Simple multilocular pores, each 10 µm in diameter, with very small bilocular or trilocular centre and 5–8 outer loculi, sparsely scattered on venter and forming medial clusters on dorsum. Ovisac band present, with flagellate setae, 55–60 µm long with blunt apices and rounded bases, and simple multilocular pores forming ovisac band 5–7 pores wide, each pore 9–10 µm in diameter, with trilocular centre and 5–7 outer loculi. Simple multilocular pores with bilocular centre and 4–6 outer loculi, very sparsely scattered on ventromedial abdomen. Vulvar opening as for genus, surrounded by typical multilocular pores with trilocular centre and 10–12 outer loculi. Cicatrices oval to reniform, numbering 3, central cicatrix longest. Abdominal spiracles as for genus. Anal tube as for genus; anal opening as for genus, surrounded by long, hair-like setae and typical multilocular pores with 6–8 outer loculi.

Type data. ARGENTINA: Mendoza, 1911, collection number 148a. (P. Jorgensen).

Type material. Lectotype here designated: ad ♀, “ Icerya /minima nsp./on? Suada divaurata / Mendoza,/ Argentina./ P. Jorgensen. /#148a. 1911?” ( USNM) . Paralectotypes: ad ♀ (same slide as lectotype); 3 ad ♀♀ (one slide, same data as lectotype) ( USNM) ; ad ♀, “ Icerya /minima n.sp. / Mendoza / Argentina #148a/ P. Jorgensen /1911?/On Suada divaurata ” ( USNM) ; 13 1 st -instar nymphs (one slide), “ Icerya /minima n.sp. / On ? Suada divaurata / Mendoza,/ Argentina./Jorgensen/# 148a 1911.” ( USNM) ; 11 1 st -instar nymphs (one slide), “ Icerya /minima/n.sp./on? Suada divaurata / Mendoza,/ Argentina./ P. Jorgensen. /#148a. 1911?” ( USNM) ; dry material ( USNM).

Taxonomic notes. Crypticerya minima differs from other Crypticerya that form an ovisac band with dense flagellate setae by its very small size and by the presence of a single pore type in the ovisac band. Refer to the C. littoralis group for further discussion of similar species.

The lectotype female is on the right side of the slide with the original label on the left. The host plant is not indicated in the description, but on the slide labels, Suada divaurata [sic] has been added as the host in different handwriting from the original writing. The World Catalogue also incorrectly cited the original description as providing the host plant Suaeda divaurata ( Ben-Dov, 2005: 201, cited under “ HOST PLANTS”), but Morrison explicitly stated, “There is no information as to…the name of the host” ( Morrison, 1919: 66). The World Catalogue also provided holotype data ( Ben-Dov, 2005: 201), but Morrison did not designate a holotype in his original description.

Morrison (1919) described 5 small irregularly-shaped clear cicatrices in the ovisac band immediately posterior to the hindlegs and 3 cicatrices on the ventral abdomen of the adult female. We did not see the 5 small clear cicatrices in the ovisac band on any of the adult females from the type material.