Icerya australis Maskell, 1894

Unruh, Corinne M. & Gullan, Penny J., 2008, Identification guide to species in the scale insect tribe Iceryini (Coccoidea: Monophlebidae), Zootaxa 1803 (1), pp. 1-106 : 76-77

Icerya australis Maskell

Icerya rosae australis Maskell, 1894: 101 .

Icerya (Crypticerya) australis Maskell ; Cockerell (1896a: 323).

Palaeococcus australis (Maskell) ; Cockerell (1902a: 233).

Auloicerya australis (Maskell) ; Morrison & Morrison (1923: 22) [not Vayssière (1926: 307) as in Ben-Dov (2005: 151)]. Icerya australis Maskell ; Unruh & Gullan (2008: 41).

Unmounted material. Adult female with convex dorsum and flat venter; deep brown, almost black, with rows of yellow spots on margin and in two submarginal rows; white flocculent wax scattered on dorsal surface and forming a thin cushion on ventral surface (adapted from Maskell, 1894).

Slide-mounted material. Adult female oval. Antennae 10 or 11 segmented. Eyes, mouthparts and legs as for tribe. Thoracic spiracles as for genus. Hair-like setae almost entirely absent from dorsal surface; sparsely scattered on ventral surface, longest between antennae. Flagellate setae absent from dorsal surface, sparsely scattered on ventral surface. Open-centre pores absent. Simple multilocular pores, each 12–14 µm in diameter, with thickened outer rim, bilocular centre and 6–8 outer loculi, scattered on dorsal surface, forming marginal band on venter. Ovisac band absent. Marsupium absent. Simple multilocular pores, each 10–11 µm in diameter, with bilocular centre (appearing reniform) and 4 outer loculi, scattered on ventromedial derm. Vulva as for genus, surrounded by typical pores, each with bilocular centre and 10–12 elongate outer loculi. Cicatrices numbering 3. Abdominal spiracles in 3 pairs. Anal tube as for genus; anal opening not surrounded by typical pores, instead surrounded by simple multilocular pores, each with bilocular centre and 10–12 outer loculi, and short hair-like setae. Dorsal surface and ventral margin of adult female becoming very sclerotized with age; small intersegmental sclerotized patches present, forming 2 submedial and 2 submarginal longitudinal rows on dorsal abdomen.

Type data. AUSTRALIA: New South Wales, Sydney , ex Hakea gibbosa (Froggatt) .

Type material. Lectotype here designated: antennae and mouthparts of an ad ♀, “ Icerya rosae / var. australis /antennae of female/1893 W.M.M./Entomology Div., DSIR, NZ ” ( ANIC) . Paralectotypes: 3 rd -instar nymph, “ Icerya rosae / var. australis /adult female/1894 W.M.M.” ( NZAC) ; 1 st -instar nymph, “ Icerya rosae / var. australis /larva/1894 W.M.M.” ( NZAC); 2 ♀♀, 19 1 st -instar nymphs (nymphs on two slides), ad ♀ and firstinstar nymphs (unmounted), ex pillbox of Maskell labelled, “ Icerya /rosae/ Var. australis ” ( NZAC, slidemounted by PJG in 1993) ; ad ♀, “ Icerya rosae var/ australis Mask. /adult ♀ / Mask Coll. #389/Cotype Cat. No 25271/ U.S. N.M” ( USNM) ; 1 2 nd -instar nymph, “ Icerya rosae / var australis / Mask / Mask. Coll. #389/Cotype Cat. No 25271/ U.S. N.M.” ( USNM) ; 6 1 st -instar nymphs (2 slides), “ Icerya rosae var./ australis Mask. /larva[e]/ Mask. Coll. #389/Cotype No. 25271/ U.S. N.M.” ( USNM) ; 5 1 st -instar nymphs (one slide), “ Icerya /rosae/ var. australis / Riley. / Mask / Mask. Coll. #389/ Cotype Cat #25271/ U.S. N.M.”//[pencil X through label]“ Icerya / natalensis Dougl. / So. Africa /Mask. Coll. #114” ( USNM) .

Other material examined. AUSTRALIA: 2 ad ♀♀, “Family Margarodidae / Auloicerya australis / (Maskell), ad ♀ removed/from card with 3 labels –/’ ♀ / Icerya / roseae /Heathcote’, ‘200’, and/‘ Palaeococcus / australis / Type specimens.’/BCRI specimen ex/ W.W. Froggatt collection.”//“Dry ♀ removed from glue/on card by soaking in Decon/90 and water. Acid/fuchsin stain. Mounted in/canada balsam in xylene./Slide prepared by P.J. Gullan,/1984./BCRI” ( ASCU); 8 1 st -instar nymphs (one slide), 10 1 st -instar nymphs (one slide), 13 1 st -instar nymphs (one slide), “Family Margarodidae / Auloicerya australis /(Maskell), 1st instar nymphs/ from below dry ♀ on card/with 3 labels –/ “ ♀ / Icerya /rosae/Heathcote”, “200”, and/“ Palaeococcus /australis/ Type specimens”./BCRI specimens ex/ W.W. Froggatt collection.”//“Dry 1st instar soaked in/Decon 90 and water./Acid fuchsin stain./Mounted in canada balsam/in xylene. Slide prepared/by P.J. Gullan, 1984./BCRI” ( ASCU) .

Taxonomic notes. Icerya acaciae and I. australis resemble one another but can be separated by the shape of the simple multilocular pores on the dorsum. Also, the hair-like setae present on first-instar nymphs of I. australis have trifid apices, whereas the setae of I. acaciae do not.

Although Maskell (1894) lists the type locality only as ‘near Sydney’, Froggatt (1906, 1921), who collected the type specimens, stated that they came from National Park, near Sydney. Also Froggatt (1906) stated that he had collected this species on Hakea acicularis (now H. sericea ) and Grevillea buxifolia (both Proteaceae ), which are different to the host plant specified in Maskell's description. Froggatt (1906: 773) also stated that he collected this species in 1893 at Cook's River, near Sydney and then shortly afterwards found that it "extended well over National Park". The ASCU specimens listed above are from the W. W. Froggatt collection and were collected at Heathcote, which is a suburb at the southern edge of greater Sydney sur- rounded by Royal National Park. Thus these specimens were possibly part of the original collection retained by Froggatt when he sent material to New Zealand for W. M. Maskell to identify.