Antonina graminis (Maskell, 1897)

Gavrilov-Zimin, Ilya A., 2016, Cytogenetic and taxonomic studies of some legless mealybugs (Homoptera, Coccinea, Pseudococcidae), CompCytogen 4, pp. 587-601 : 590

Taxon classification Animalia Hemiptera Pseudococcidae

Antonina graminis (Maskell, 1897)

Material.

K 1109, Morocco, 10 km South of Ouarzazate, oasis Fint, under leaf sheathes of undetermined Poaceae grass, 28.IX.2013, Ilya Gavrilov-Zimin.

Cytogenetic data.

The chromosome number (2n = 16) of this widely distributed species and its parthenogenetic reproduction were reported for the first time in the book of McKenzie (1967) as unpublished data of "Brown, Beardsley, DeLotto, and Nur" without any other details. Many years later in the review of the chromosome numbers of mealybugs ( Nur et al. 1987) these data were repeated with the designation of the collecting country “Jamaica”. Moreover, Parida and Moharana (1982) reported the same chromosome number based on material from India, but without designation of the mode of reproduction. Unfortunately all the above mentioned publications did not include the karyotype photos. During the current study the gravid females of Antonina graminis from Morocco (above mentioned locality), from Indonesian part of New Guinea (vicinity of Manokwari) and Malaysian Borneo (Sabah, vicinity of Kinabalu National park) have been examined. In all these series the male embryos (with heterochromatinization) were not detected, i.e. the reproduction in the studied populations was obligate thelytokous. It worth mentioning that the females do have a spermatheca attached to the base of the unpaired oviduct, but without sperm bundles inside. The counting of the chromosomes appeared possible only in the material from Morocco, 2n = 16 (Fig. 1a).