ERIOCOCCIDAE Cockerell 1899

Hodgson, Chris, 2020, A review of neococcid scale insects (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccomorpha) based on the morphology of the adult males, Zootaxa 4765 (1), pp. 1-264 : 42

ERIOCOCCIDAE Cockerell 1899

Type genus: Eriococcus Targioni Tozzetti, 1868 , 726.

Type species: Eriococcus buxi Fonscolombe, 1834 , 218.

Introduction. The classification of the taxon here referred to as Eriococcidae has been shown to be problematic.All recent phylogenetic analyses, starting with Cox and Williams (1986), have shown that the taxa included in the Eriococcidae form a non-monophyletic group. The name Eriococcidae has been widely accepted since Ferris (1957b) but, even then, the Kermesidae and Dactylopiidae were frequently included in the concept. Later, Hoy (1963) in his catalogue, included the Beesoniidae , Dactylopiidae , Eriococcidae , Kermesidae and Micrococcidae , while earlier Borchsenius (1949) had included the eriococcids in the Pseudococcidae . More recently, various phylogenetic studies have found that the Beesoniidae , Stictococcidae and Dactylopiidae all fall within the overall concept of Eriococcidae but that the Kermesidae do not. Molecular studies ( Cook et al. 2002, Cook & Gullan 2004, Gullan & Cook 2007) found that these four taxa ( Beesoniidae , Eriococcidae , Dactylopiidae and Stictococcidae ) all fall within the overall concept of Eriococcidae and were recovered forming four subgroups within an overall clade referred to as the Eriococcidae , namely: (i) Group A: the acanthococcid group comprising the type species of Acanthococcus , A. aceris Signoret , other eriococcids from both the northern and southern hemispheres plus the family Dactylopiidae Costa; (ii) Group B: a Gondwanan group which includes many species from Australia, South America and New Zealand, many of which feed on Myrtaceae ; (iii), Group C: a subclade including Beesoniidae , Stictococcidae and some eriococcid taxa, including Eriococcus buxi (Boyer de Fonscolombe) , the type species of Eriococcidae (referred to as the BSE group), and (iv) Calycicoccus Brain from South Africa ( Cook & Gullan 2004, Gullan & Cook 2007). Studies based on the morphology of adult macropterous males ( Hodgson 2002, Hodgson & Hardy 2013) also found that the Beesoniidae , Dactylopiidae and Stictococcidae were recovered within the Eriococcid clade, although the division into the above four subclades was less clear. However, the adult males of taxa currently recognised as families, i.e., Beesoniidae , Dactylopiidae and Stictococcidae , appear to be easily separable from the other “eriococcids” based on their morphology and are dealt with under separate headings below. For a key for the separation of these various taxa, see main key on p. 19. Calycicoccus fell within the Gondwanan Group in Hodgson and Hardy (2013) and is discussed under that group heading below.