Antecerococcus stellatus (Maskell)

Chris J. Hodgson & Douglas J. Williams, 2016, (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha, Coccomorpha) with particular reference to species from the Afrotropical, western Palaearctic and western Oriental Regions, with the revival of Antecerococcus Green and description of a new genus and fifteen new species, and with ten new synonomies, Zootaxa 4091 (1), pp. 1-175 : 136

Antecerococcus stellatus (Maskell) , revived comb.

Planchonia bryoides stellata Maskell 1897: 315 –316.

Asterolecanium bryoides stellatum ; Cockerell 1899: 393. Change of combination. Antecerococcus bryoides stellatus ; Fernald 1903: 58. Change of combination. Cerococcus stellatus ; Morrison & Morrison 1927: 21. Change of status.

Type details. AUSTRALIA, New South Wales, Cumberland District, on Exocarpus (misspelling of Exocarpos ) cupressiformis ( Santalaceae ), C. Fuller. Depositories: NZAC: 1/2 syntype adff, labelled just bryoides var. stellata , #525, with a gold DSIR label. USNM: 2/2 first-instar nymphs (Lambdin and Kosztarab considered that these were part of the type series but Miller (pers. comm.) could find no evidence that this was the case).

Material examined: AUSTRALIA, Victoria, on Loranthus linophyllus (Loranthaceae) , no date, ex. coll C. French #210 (BMNH): 1/3adff + 5 immatures (f–p).

Comment. Lambdin and Kosztarab (1977) provide a good description. The adult female of A. stellatus can be diagnosed by the following combination of character-states: (i) dorsum with three sizes of 8-shaped pore; (ii) largest 8-shaped pore in swirls on head, thorax and anterior abdominal segments; (iii) smallest pores on posterior abdominal segments and in apices of each stigmatic pore band; (iv) cribriform plates oval, in submedial groups of two on each side of abdominal segment IV; (v) leg stubs present; (vi) posterior stigmatic pore bands bifurcated, and (vii) multilocular disc-pores absent.

The adult female of A. stellatus falls within Group C in the key to species of Antecerococcus and keys out close to A. bryoides from the Pacific Region and to A. echinatus from China.