Ceroputo Šulc

Han, Sarah I., 2011, A study of the scale insect genera Puto Signoret (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea: Putoidae) and Ceroputo Šulc (Pseudococcidae) with a comparison to Phenacoccus Cockerell (Pseudococcidae), Zootaxa 2802, pp. 1-22 : 14-15

Ceroputo Šulc

Ceroputo Šulc, 1898: 1 . Type species: Ceroputo pilosellae Šulc , by original designation. Leococcus Kanda, 1959: 239 . Type species: Leococcus erigeroneus Kanda , by monotypy and original designation. Synonymy by Tang, 1992: 388.

Ceroputo was synonymised with Puto by Ferris (1918) [not by Danzig 1980, as suggested by Ben-Dov 1994 and ScaleNet], but treated as a valid genus by Tang (1992). Hardy et al. (2008) treated Ceroputo as a genus of the mealybug subfamily Phenacoccinae, which they redefined. We concur with Tang (1992) and Hardy et al. (2008). The molecular phylogenetic studies by M. Bora Kaydan (pers. comm.) also have confirmed the placement of C. pilosellae in the Pseudococcidae near some species of Phenacoccus . Here we diagnose Ceroputo based largely on the adult female and transfer several species to it from Puto . Afifi (1968) described the adult male of C. pilosellae (based on specimens from Fragaria vesca from Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia now Serbia) as having a pair of dorsal and a pair of ventral simple eyes and a pair of lateral ocelli. It also has two pairs of lateral filaments on the abdomen, features that are consistent with this species being a true pseudococcid. We also recognise Leococcus Kanda as a junior synonym of Ceroputo , in agreement with Tang (1992). Previously Leococcus was treated as a junior synonym of Puto , a synonymy suggested by Kawai (1980). Kanda (1959) stated how his genus Leococcus differed from Puto and Ceroputo but the features that he listed are all shared with the type species of Ceroputo . We recognise a total of six species in Ceroputo and discuss each of these species following the generic diagnosis.

Diagnosis features. Adult female: eye height as great as or greater than length of first antennal segment (usually very much smaller in typical Phenacoccus , except Ph. solenopsis ); antennae with 8–9 segments; 0–2 (usually 0) antennal intersegmental sensilla present between each of segments III–IV, IV–V and VI–VII; 2 campaniform sensilla on each surface of each trochanter; claw lacking basal spurs; claw digitules capitate but tarsal digitules either capitate or not; more than 17 pairs of cerarii on sclerotised plates; long tubular ducts present or absent on frons (anterior to mouthparts); trilocular pores on venter usually smaller than those on dorsum, and pores in cerarii at most only slightly larger than those on rest of dorsum; quinquelocular pores sometimes present. First-instar nymph: 6-segmented antennae; multilocular pores with>5 loculi absent. Adult male of C. pilosellae (adult males unknown in other species): head with one pair of dorsal and one pair of ventral simple eyes plus a pair of lateral ocelli; with 2 pairs of lateral filaments on posterior abdominal segments (each filament from glandular pouch on each side of abdominal segments VII and VIII); penial sheath 1-segmented, apex of aedeagus simple ( Afifi, 1968).