Pulvinaria caballeroramosae Tanaka & Kondo

Tanaka, Hirotaka & Kondo, Takumasa, 2015, Description of a new soft scale insect of the genus Pulvinaria Targioni Tozzetti (Hemiptera, Coccoidea, Coccidae) from Bogota, Colombia, ZooKeys 484, pp. 111-120 : 114-116

Taxon classification Animalia Hemiptera Coccidae

Pulvinaria caballeroramosae Tanaka & Kondo sp. n. Figures 1, 2

Proposed common names.

Spanish: Escama blanda algodonosa del caucho sabanero; English: Sabanero fig cottony scale.

Type series.

Holotype, adult female. Colombia, Cundinamarca, Bogotá, D.C. Barrio Salitre, Carrera 68B, con Av. La Esperanza, Esquina Noroccidental, 05.xi.2014, coll. T. Kondo & Andrea Amalia Ramos Portilla, ex branches of Ficus soatensis Dugand ( Moraceae ), 1♀ (UNAB). Paratypes, same data as holotype, 11 ♀♀ (3 at UNAB, 3 CTNI, 3 USNM and 2 at TRPM).

Unmounted material

(Figure 1A, B, C). Adult female in life oval, convex, 2.2-4.5 mm long, 1.9-3.8 mm wide, 0.9-2.0 mm tall, covered by a thin layer of glassy wax (Figure 1A). Body greenish brown to yellowish brown, especially around body margin, mid dorsum lighter in color, yellowish to ochre, usually with a dark mid-dorsal longitudinal line from head margin to just anterior to anal plates (Figure 1A, B). Anal plates conspicuous, reddish brown; area around anal plates generally smooth and yellowish (Figure 1A, B). Dorsal derm warty in appearance (except around anal plates), with round yellowish tubercles, especially on mid dorsum, tubercles fewer and smaller around margins and submargins; often with a pair of particularly large (two or more times wider than the anal plates) round submedial tubercles on mid dorsum, located diagonally from anal plates (Figure 1A, B). Ovisac long, four or more times the length of the adult female, produced in a straight or curved line, strongly adhered to substrate, eggs generally exposed and clearly visible through the fibrous ovisac; eggs orange, purplish or ochre in color (Figure 1C).

Slide-mounted specimens

(n=12). Body oval, 2.5-4.6 mm long, 2.1-3.5 mm wide, margin with very shallow indentation at each stigmatic cleft; anal cleft about 1/5-1/8 body length.

Dorsum: Derm membranous, dermal areolation not developed. Dorsal setae spiniform, frequent, scattered over entire dorsum, each 9-15 µm long with well-developed basal socket. Preopercular pores circular, each diameter 3-7 µm, rather well-sclerotized and convex, extending broadly on medial area from area just anterior to anal plates forward to about mesothorax, but usually scarce anteriorly. Only a few tubular ducts present, situated anterior to anal plates, where they are intermixed with preopercular pores; sometimes ducts also present marginally on head and thorax. Dorsal microducts frequent throughout. Simple pores present, mostly distributed evenly. Dorsal tubercles absent. Anal plates together quadrate; each plate with posterior margin slightly convex and anterior margin slightly concave, with 3-4 (usually 3) fine apical setae; each plate 223-258 µm long, 128-166 µm wide, with supporting bar and reticulation on area near lateral angle. Ano-genital fold with four or five pairs of setae along anterior margin and one to three pairs laterally. Anal ring bearing about 10-12 setae. Eyespots present near margin.

Margin: Marginal setae with well-developed basal sockets and usually slightly blunt but rarely with simple, pointed apices; length of each seta 17-79 µm; with 4-12 setae present between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts. Stigmatic clefts shallow or absent, each with 1-4 (usually 3) stigmatic spines, central spine longest, 50-103 µm long, about three to eight times as long as lateral spines.

Venter: Derm membranous. Multilocular pores each 5-9 µm wide, with 3-8 loculi (mainly 5), present around genital opening, on mediolateral areas of all abdominal segments, mesothorax, metathorax and head; a small group also present lateral to each coxa. Spiracular pores each 4.0-7.0 µm wide, with 3-6 loculi (mainly 5), present in rather narrow bands 1-5 pores wide between margin and each spiracle; anterior bands each with 25-47 pores, posterior bands each with 32-49 pores. Ventral microducts scattered evenly throughout, each about 2.0-3.0 µm wide. Preantennal pore not detected. Ventral tubular ducts of three types: type I with large outer ductule, flower-shaped well-developed terminal gland and stout inner ductule, present in medial area of thorax, the anterior two to four abdominal segments, and in inner submarginal band from area posterior to vulvar region near anal folds forwards to area just posterior to metathoracic spiracular pore band; type II tubular ducts each with rather small outer ductule, narrower inner ductule, shallow cup-shaped invagination and well-developed terminal gland, occurring in medial area of posterior abdominal segments; and type III ducts similar to type II, but with a short, filamentous inner ductule and very small terminal gland, present in submarginal band from area posterior to vulvar region near anal folds forwards to area posterior to metathoracic spiracular pore band, intermixed with type I ducts in inner submarginal area. Ventral tubular ducts of all types absent marginally and submarginally from head to anterior thoracic segments and from the outer submarginal to marginal areas of posterior thorax and abdomen. Ventral submarginal setae short and fine, distributed evenly; other ventral setae relatively long and present in medial area of thorax, between antennae and in transverse rows of abdominal segments. Spiracles normal, rather large; width of each peritreme: anterior 90-117 µm, posterior 103-132 µm. Legs well developed and stout, each with a tibio-tarsal articulation and an articulatory sclerosis; claws without denticles; both claw digitules rather broad and slightly shorter than thin tarsal digitules, as shown in Figure 2. Hind trochanter + femur 390-483 µm long, hind tibia 256-325 µm long, and hind tarsus 132-177 µm long. Antennae rather reduced, total length 302-404 µm; each with 5-7 segments, usually 6 or 7. Labium 110-170 µm wide.

Etymology.

The species is named after Dr. Andrea Amalia Ramos Portilla and Mr. Alejandro Caballero who originally discovered this soft scale species on the streets of Bogota, Colombia.

Biology.

The insects were found on the trunk, branches and twigs of the host. Adult males and puparia were commonly intermixed with the females (Figure 1A). Pulvinaria caballeroramosae sp. n. is commonly found in large numbers on Ficus soatensis (Figure 1A, B), a common street tree in Bogota, often causing dieback of twigs and branches and in severe cases, dieback of the entire tree. The females produce long ovisacs that are conspicuous on the infested twigs and branches (Figure 1C). No natural enemies, parasitoids or predators of Pulvinaria caballeroramosae sp. n. were observed in the present study.

Host plant. Moraceae : Ficus soatensis .