Greeniella casuarinae, Hardy, Nate B. & Williams, Douglas J., 2018

Hardy, Nate B. & Williams, Douglas J., 2018, Doubling the known endemic species diversity of New Caledonian armored scale insects (Hemiptera, Diaspididae), ZooKeys 782, pp. 11-47 : 11

Greeniella casuarinae sp. n. Figure 7

Material examined.

Holotype: New Caledonia: 1 adult female (0.43 mm long, 0.36 mm wide): ex Casuarina sp., near Yaté Dam, 3.ix.1963, SW Brown, SWB accession 267 (USNM).

Description.

Adult female, n = 1. Presumed pupillarial. Body of holotype 0.43 mm long, broadest at anterior abdominal segments (0.36 mm); body outline circular, with slight constriction at head.

Pygidium truncate, without dorsal macroducts, typical lobes, or plates; with six projections, each subtriangular, slightly bifid at apex. Anus circular, in posterior half of pygidium. Venter with vulva in posterior half, at level of anus. Perivulvar pores absent. Microducts scattered along posterior margin.

Pre-pygidial segments. Microducts scattered along margin of anterior abdominal segments, meta- and mesothorax. Fine setae in distinct submedial and marginal series; setae not detected on head and thorax. Antennae each with two long setae. Spiracles without pores.

Comments.

Before this work, the genus Greeniella Cockerell (1897) contained 14 valid species, all but two occurring in southern Asia. The exceptions are two Australian species, G. capitata Brimblecombe and G. ornata Brimblecombe. The defining feature for the group is that the pupillarial adult females have unusual pygidia, with caudal projections in addition to or instead of the normal lobes and plates. Nevertheless, the taxonomy of pupillarial armored scale insect species undoubtedly needs sorting, and the boundaries between the genera Greeniella , Eugreeniella , and Aonidia are blurry (B. B. Normark pers. comm.). The adult female of G. casuarinae is unique in having six short, sub-triangular, bifid caudal projections.

Etymology.

The species epithet is taken from the genus name of the host.