Antonina graminis (Maskell)

Moghaddam, Masumeh, 2013, A review of the mealybugs (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae, Putoidae and Rhizoecidae) of Iran, with descriptions of four new species and three new records for the Iranian fauna, Zootaxa 3632 (1), pp. 1-107 : 13

Antonina graminis (Maskell)

( Fig. 4 )

Sphaerococcus graminis Maskell, 1897: 244 . Chaetococcus graminis Maskell, 1898: 250 . Antonina indica Green, 1908: 27 . Antonina littoralis Cockerell & Bueker, 1930: 1 .

DIAGNOSIS. Mounted adult female almost quadrate, with posterior segments sclerotized on mature specimens. Anal ring situated at base of anal tube. Antennae reduced to 2 or 3 segments. Legs absent except for leg apophyses. Eye present. Vulva oval, often with speckled appearance, and with slender clavate lateral and posterior apophyses. Medial ventral segmentation obscure immediately anterior to vulva. Ostioles absent. Dorsal multilocular disc pores present around opening of anal tube; those on venter occupying area between apex of abdomen and vulva, also confined to midregion of abdomen and in an area around each spiracle. Trilocular pores, each with a thick rim, evenly distributed on dorsum and venter. A small type of trilocular pore present in compact crescentic groups adjacent to each spiracular opening. Discoidal pores, each with a sclerotized rim and reticulated surface and ranging in size from about same width as a trilocular pore to sometimes as large as a multilucular disc pore, present in clusters on venter from metathorax to abdominal segment VII in wide submedial bands, mingling also with some multilocular disc pores. Dorsal setae minute, lanceolate to conical; some on margins scarsely longer than setal collars except on posterior segments of abdomen, where longer, blunt and stiff. Oral collar ducts of 2 sizes: largetype ducts on dorsum and venter near base of sclerotized areas on abdominal segments VII and VIII and on lateral margins of abdominal segment VI, and narrow ducts abundant anterior to large-type ducts on both surfaces.

DISTRIBUTION. Afrotropical, Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental, Palaearctic: Afghanistan, China, Egypt, France, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Turkey. In Iran, A. graminis occurs in Bushehr and Khouzestan. It is known on Cyperaceae and Poaceae (Ben-Dov et al., 2012) .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Bushehr: Bushehr, 14 adult Ƥ, on Poa sp. ( Poaceae ), 25.ix.2010 (M. Fasihi). Khouzestan: Kesht o Sanaat Karoun, 7 adult Ƥ, on Saccharum officinarum (Poaceae) , 08.xii.2000 (A. Narrehei).

COMMENTS: A. graminis is widespread in tropical and temperate areas on grasses (Williams, 2004), and is recorded on sugarcane in the south of Iran (Narrehei & Moghaddam, 2002). This species occurs on the aerial roots or subterranean nodes of grasses including sugarcane but has not become troublesome on sugarcane in Iran.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Adult female Antonina graminis (Maskell).