Megapulvinaria maxima (Green, 1904)

Gavrilov-Zimin, Ilya A., 2020, Chromosomal and reproductive features of some Oriental and Australasian scale insects (Homoptera, Coccinea), Comparative Cytogenetics 14 (3), pp. 339-352 : 339

Megapulvinaria maxima (Green, 1904) Figs 3e , 4 , 5b

Material.

K 1531, Thailand, Pai, on leaves and twigs of an undetermined dicotyledonous tree, 13.XI.2019, I.A. Gavrilov-Zimin.

New data.

2n = 20; bisexual reproduction with a Lecanoid heterochromatinization in male embryos. Incomplete ovoviviparity: embryogenesis (until the late anatrepsis) partially occurs inside of the mother’s body. Female reproductive system has the usual structure (Fig. 4 ).

Comments.

Different European members of the tribe Pulvinariini have been previously studied cytogenetically ( Gavrilov 2007, Gavrilov and Trapeznikova 2008). Four Oriental species from the genera Chloropulvinaria Borchsenius, 1952, Pseudopulvinaria Atkinson, 1889 and Pulvinaria Targioni Tozzetti, 1866 were studied by Moharana (1990), who reported chromosome numbers with no comments or details. M. maxima is the first species of the genus Megapulvinaria Yang, 1982 studied in terms of chromosome number; the kartotype 2n = 20 is found for the first time in the tribe Pulvinariini in general.

Figures

Figure 3. Embryonic cells and chromosomes of the studied species (Coccidae). a Coccus viridis (2 n = 18) b Discochiton expansum (2 n = 18) c Luzulaspis australis (2 n = 18) d Megalocryptes buteae (2 n = 18) e Megapulvinaria maxima (2 n = 20) f Saccharolecanium krugeri (2 n = 18). Scale bars: 10 µm.

Figure 4. General anatomy of the female reproductive system in the studied species (Coccidae).

Figure 5. Females of some species on twigs of host plants. a Gossypariella siamensis b Megapulvinaria maxima c Megalocryptes buteae (with a colony of Kerria sp. at the background) d Saccharolecanium krugeri.