KUWANIIDAE MacGillivray

Watson, Gillian W., 2022, Towards identification of the scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) of continental Africa: 2. Checklists and keys to six archaeococcoid families, Zootaxa 5105 (3), pp. 301-356 : 303-305

Family KUWANIIDAE MacGillivray

Common name: Kuwaniids.

Background: Globally, there are four genera containing 14 described kuwaniid species ( García Morales et al. 2016). Their morphology is relatively uniform, normally with abdominal spiracles, each tibia with a distal tuft of clubbed setae, and the body lacking tubular ducts ( Miller et al. 2014; Gavrilov-Zimin (2017). However, the only known African species, Kuwania oligostigma , is unusual in lacking abdominal spiracles, having a tuft of capitate setae at the distal end of each tibia, and in possessing tubular ducts ( De Lotto 1959). As it possesses the other characteristics of the family, it has been left in Kuwania pending further research.

Appearance in life: Kuwaniids are found on or under tree bark. Immature cyst stages, often brightly coloured, live in cracks in the trunk or under the bark. Adult females of most species produce a white waxy ovisac that covers the body; males and females of some species appear on the bark in autumn. However, live adult females of K. oligostigma live deep in the bark of the host plant and are naked of wax secretions; in life, the body colour is an even, dark pink.

Identification: In K. oligostigma , the immature cyst stages lack legs but have abdominal spiracles, each containing pores in the atrium, mouthparts and 1-segmented antennae ( De Lotto 1959).

The best specimens for identification are young adult females just after the final moult, before the body has become distended with developing eggs. Adult female body elongate, slightly broader posteriorly, 1.4‒6.0 mm long; derm membranous; mouthparts present in K. oligostigma (but usually absent in other species); anal lobes not developed; legs present. Anal ring simple, small, situated on dorsum. Antennal bases placed close together; each antenna usually with nine segments, basal two segments enlarged, each with base wider than apex; most other segments each with base narrower than apex. In most species of Kuwania , second antennal segment with more than one campaniform sensilla. Legs well developed; coxa normal, trochanter with 4‒6 campaniform sensilla on each surface; distal end of tibia with a cluster of setae (capitate in K. oligostigma , clubbed in other Kuwania species ); tarsus 1 segmented, curved; claw with one denticle and two acute digitules. Thoracic spiracles each without disc pores in atrium; abdominal spiracles absent in K. oligostigma (see Fig. 1 ); other Kuwania species have 4‒6 pairs, usually each with a few disc pores in atrium. Multilocular disc pores present on both body surfaces, each with one central loculus and 5‒10 outer loculi ( De Lotto 1959; Wu et al. 2013; Miller et al. 2014).

Economic importance: None in Africa.

Biology: Kuwania oligostigma lives embedded deep in the bark of Commiphora sp. (Burseraceae) . Most other kuwaniids feed on oaks ( Quercus spp. , Fagaceae ) but single species are found on each of Lithocarpus (Fagaceae) , Antidesma (Euphorbiaceae) and Zizyphus (Rhamnaceae) . The biology has not been studied: a generation may require more than one year for completion. Probably there are four female instars (the first-instar crawler, two cyst stages, and the adult). Males have not been documented in most kuwaniid species. In most species, crawlers settle in cracks or under the bark, where second-instar cysts develop. In sexual species, adults may be found wandering over the host trunks in late summer or autumn seeking mates.

Checklist and distribution of Kuwaniidae in continental Africa (1 genus, 1 species)

Kuwania oligostigma De Lotto : Kenya

Figures

FIGURE 1. Kuwania oligostigma De Lotto, adult female, from De Lotto (1959: 217, Fig. 3), reproduced with permission of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa. A: ventral apex of tibia with numerous capitate setae. Note the absence of abdominal spiracles.