Paralecanium palawanense Hodgson

Chris J. Hodgson & Douglas J. Williams, 2018, Revision of the soft scale genus Paralecanium (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) with the introduction of three new genera and twenty new species, Zootaxa 4443 (1), pp. 1-162 : 129-131

Paralecanium palawanense Hodgson spec. n.

( Fig. 54 )

Material examined. Holotype f and paratype ff. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: left label: Paralecanium / palawanense / Hodgson / holotype and paratype ff; right label: Calophyllum / upper surfaces of lvs / PHILIPPINE IS: / PALAWAN / Irawan│Iwahig / forest, 2000’, 11 Feb. 1988, J.H. Martin coll #5266 / B.M. 1988-2 (BMNH): 1/6adff (fg, but heavily sclerotised; holotype female bottom righthand specimen, clearly marked). Paratype ff: Left label: Paralecanium / palawanense / Hodgson / paratype ff; right label: Calophyllum / upper surfaces of lvs / PHILIPPINE IS: / PALAWAN / Irawan│ Iwahig / forest, 2000’, 11 Feb. 1988, J.H. Martin coll #5266 / B.M. 1988-2 (BMNH): 2/12adff (f, but mature and with some damage to venter).

Note. The description is based on the least-sclerotised specimen.

Unmounted material. Derm black (J. Martin, pers. com.).

Slide-mounted adult female. Body almost round. Length 2.0– 2.5 mm, width 1.8–2.0 mm.

Dorsum. Derm rather uniformly sclerotised at maturity, with round to oval areolations, each with darker borders, mostly in radial bands submarginally and submedially; areolations particularly obvious on older specimens, when most of derm also with minute small pale spots, each less than 1 µm wide. Marginal radial lines clear and distinct, extending well onto dorsum; alternate rays significantly longer and with many converging and coalescing more medially on older specimens, present as follows: 11 lines anteriorly between anterior stigmatic clefts, no lines from each cleft, each side with 3 lines between stigmatic clefts and 11 on abdomen. Abdominal clear areas generally absent but occasionally possibly present but obscure. Dorsal setae: hard to detect; basal sockets extremely hard to separate from smaller pores (due to sclerotisation of dorsum) but each seta straight to slightly curved, parallel-sided with a blunt apex, 4–5 µm long; apparently restricted to marginal and submarginal areas near radial lines; absent more medially. Large dorsal pores each small, 4–5 µm wide, possibly with visible micropores, surrounded by slightly more heavily sclerotised derm; frequent in broad submedial bands of 18–35 pores on each side; pores not forming a clear polygonal pattern. Small simple pores of perhaps of 2 sizes present, each represented by small clear spot in derm, smaller pores each about 1 µm wide, larger pores each perhaps 2 µm wide; also not in an obvious polygonal pattern. Anal plates each with a rounded outer margin; each plate with 1 or 2 small pores medially plus 1 seta near middle of inner margin; also with 4 small setae near apex; length of plates 150–160 µm, combined width 105–115 µm. Anogenital fold with 1 pair of small setae along anterior margin, each lateral margin with (possibly) 1 seta at anterior end, another near middle and possibly another posteriorly. On more mature specimens, anal plate apodeme (lateral margin sclerotisation) extending anteriorly and forming 2 “flamelike” extensions into body cavity.

Margin. Margins without marginal ornamentation apart from a castellation for each seta. Marginal setae oval, fan-like; width of each fan mostly 20–27 µm, length about 18–23 µm; with about 80–95 setae anteriorly between anterior stigmatic clefts, each side with 30–36 between clefts and 75–88 along abdominal margin. Stigmatic clefts quite deep, each with a strongly sclerotised inner margin and 0–3 stigmatic spines; some clefts (about a quarter) appear to lack setae and setal sockets; about 20% have a single large median spine, and the remainder each have 2 or 3 spines; when spines present, median spine always present and placed towards anterior end of cleft; median spine much the longest, each 30–35 µm long, each lateral spine 13–17 µm long. Eyespots each more or less round, width of socket 50–65 µm, diameter of lens about 20 µm.

Venter. Membranous, but with a complete submarginal band about 70–115 µm wide on more mature specimens; also with a dense darker area just posterior to each anal plate. Multilocular disc-pores present around genital opening and on preceding 2 segments only, each side with 5–9 on abdominal segment VII, 11–13 on segment VI and 1–4 on segment V. Spiracular disc-pores sparsely present in bands 1 pore wide between margin and each spiracle, with 10–14 pores in each band. Ventral microducts present at least near mouthparts. Ventral setae: with 1 pair of interantennal setae; 1 pair of slightly longer pregenital setae on abdominal segment VII, each seta about 90 µm long, plus other long setae, each about 60 µm long, in bands across abdominal segments as follows (on each side): segment VII 0–2; VI 1–4; V 3–6; IV 6 or 7, III 5–9 and II 5–8; other setae very sparse. Antennae reduced, each with 6 segments, total length 90–100 µm; apical segment short, 10–12 µm long, apical seta short, each about 8–12 µm long; antennal setae apparently entirely absent from scape, pedicel and segment III; only fleshy setae present on segments IV and V, and 5 or 6 setae on apical segment. Clypeolabral shield about 90–95 µm long. Spiracles small, width of each peritreme 15–18 µm. Legs very reduced but with most segments still distinct, each with no tibio-tarsal segmental line; total length of hind legs (µm) 40–50, claw 2.5–3.0; tarsal digitules absent; claw digitules possibly dissimilar, 1 rather longer than other with small capitate apices; leg setae mainly absent.

Comments. Adult female P. palawanense spec. n. have a number of rather unique features: (i) anal plate apodemes each with “flame-like” extensions anteriorly on mature specimens; (ii) extreme reduction of legs but still with most segmentation visible; (iii) segmental bands of long setae medially on abdominal segments; (iv) possible absence of stigmatic spines from some clefts; (v) when stigmatic spines present, the larger setae are positioned anteriorly in the cleft rather than medially; (vi) absence of marginal ornamentation apart from enlarged setal sockets, and (vii) antennae without setose setae on scape, pedicel and segments III–V. Paralecanium palawanense is otherwise rather similar to P. calophylli , which, as its name suggests, was also collected off Calophillus sp.

Paralecanium palawanense is currently only known from the island of Palawan in the Philippines.

Host-plant. Calophyllum sp. ( Clusiaceae ).

Name derivation. This species is named after the island in the Philippines on which it was collected.

Figures

FIGURE 54. Paralecanium palawanense Hodgson, spec. n., adult female.