Bandamacoccus Hodgson, 2023

Hodgson, Chris J., 2023, A new genus and species of soft scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) on Ficus sp. from Côte d’Ivoire, Zootaxa 5256 (5), pp. 494-500 : 495

Genus Bandamacoccus Hodgson , gen. nov.

Type species: Bandamacoccus labiosus Hodgson sp. nov.

Generic diagnosis. As this genus is currently monotypic, see the description of the adult female below.

Comment. In having the following combination of character-states, adult female Bandamacoccus gen. nov. clearly belongs to the tribe Coccini within the subfamily Coccinae as defined by Hodgson (1994): (i) absence of dorsal tubular ducts; (ii) absence of ventral tubular ducts; (iii) lack of pocket-like sclerotisations; (iv) stigmatic areas lacking any sclerotization; (v) stigmatic setae differentiated from marginal setae; (vi) eyespots positioned near margin, and (vii) multilocular disc-pores concentrated near vulva. However, it is immediately separable from all other Coccini genera by the presence of an exceptionally large labium.

Name derivation: The generic name Bandama is derived from the province in Côte d’Ivoire in which it was collected (Vallée de Bandama).The suffix - coccus (Latinised ancient Greek for grain, berry or seed) is a word commonly used in naming Coccomorpha genera. Gender: masculine.