Neomorgania nothofagi, Hardy, Nate B. & Williams, Douglas J., 2018

Hardy, Nate B. & Williams, Douglas J., 2018, Doubling the known endemic species diversity of New Caledonian armored scale insects (Hemiptera, Diaspididae), ZooKeys 782, pp. 11-47 : 11

Neomorgania nothofagi sp. n. Figure 14

Material examined.

Holotype: New Caledonia: 1 adult female (1.08 mm long, 0.76 mm wide): ex Nothofagus codonandra, Riviera Bleue, 10.x.1978, JS Dugdale, BM 19 11 (NHMUK). Paratypes: New Caledonia: 5 adult females on 5 slides: same data as holotype, BM 19 11 (NHMUK, USNM); 6 adult females and 1 second-instar nymph on 7 slides: ex Nothofagus baumanii, Mt. Mou, 2.xi.1978, PN Johnson, BM 19 5, BM 19 20 (NHMUK, USNM, MNHN).

Description.

Adult female, n = 12. Presumed to secrete scale cover. Body 1.07-1.56 mm long, broadest near posterior end of fused head and prothorax (0.76-1.17 um); outline roughly turbinate (head and thorax broad, abdomen tapering caudally), deeply incised between thoracic segments and between posterior pre-pygidial abdominal segments.

Pygidium only with one lobe, L1, on each side of body, triangular in shape, with medial edge in close proximity to midline and parallel to it, apex oblique, extending to body margin. Dorsum of pygidium with subtriangular sclerotic area of smooth cuticle, lateral edges converging to posterior margin lateral of L1, with narrow, bifurcate groove in sclerotic area lateral of L1, one smaller oblique sclerite lateral of main sclerite, separated from it by membranous furrow. Anus mediolaterally compressed, ~12 µm long, 4 µm wide, in posterior third of pygidium, at anterior end of triangular, medial groove in sclerite. Two simple plates, each with blunt apex, laterad of L1 on each side of body, at base of membranous furrows. One-barred macroducts in base of bifurcate groove lateral of L1, in furrow between central sclerite and lateral sclerite, in line along submargin, decreasing in size anterolaterally. Venter of pygidium with vulva in anterior half. One cluster of perivulvar pores (30-41) on each side of body, anterolaterally of vulva.

Prepygidial segments Dorsum with fine, hair-like setae, scattered along margin, decreasing in length mesally, one in each side of submargin and one in the submedial area of meso- and meta-thorax, only submedial seta present on prothorax. Cluster of short macroducts (~5 μm) on submargins of fused head + prothorax. Microducts in submedial clusters on each thoracic segment and anterior abdominal segments. On venter, microducts scattered along submargin of anterior abdominal segments, a few near anterior spiracle, surrounding and mixed in with cluster of disc pores. Small setae in distinct longitudinal submedial and submarginal lines across abdominal segments, a few additional setae between these lines. Antennae each with one long seta, one small seta evidenced by second socket. Large cluster of 40-55 quinquelocular pores medial of anterior spiracles. Posterior spiracles without pores.

Comments.

The genus Neomorgania was erected by MacGillivray (1921) for the three species Aspidiotus junctiloba Marlatt, A. acaciae Morgan, and A. eucalypti Maskell. Brimblecombe (1954) considered these to be one and the same, and synonomized the names under Neomargania eucalypti , which Ferris (1941) had designated as the type species of the genus. Following Brimblecombe (1954), the following characters are diagnostic of Neomorgania : (1) margin of thorax with pronounced incision; (2) pygidium with only one pair of lobes, L1s, which are adpressed but not fused beyond base; (3) basal scleroses absent; (4) paraphyses present: in N. eucalypti these are distinct only at the lateral edge of the medial lobes, and are slightly longer than the lobes themselves; (5) no more than a single small plate lateral of the medial lobe; (6) one-barred macroducts smaller than the average across armored scale species; (7) anus small, at anterior end of triangular groove that terminates between the medial lobes; (8) margin of pygidium crenulate near medial lobes; (9) perivulvar pores absent. With a few of exceptions, the adult female of the new species, N. nothofagi , fits each of these definitions. The exceptions are that it has one group of perivulvar pores on each side of the body, it has two simple plates on each side of the pygidium, and the paraphyses are shorter than the medial lobes. N. nothofagi can also be distinguished by having the body outline incised between the meso- and metathorax, in addition to between the pro- and mesothorax. Furthermore, it has a large cluster of quinquelocular pores mesal of each anterior spiracle; pores are absent from this location in Brimblecombe’s illustration of N. eucalypti , and he does not mention them in his diagnosis.

Etymology.

We follow the practice of previous taxonomists, and take the species epithet of a Neomorgania species from its host plant, in this case Nothofagus .