Chermes sylvestris Hartig, 1851

Brunet, Bryan M. T., Raupach, Michael J., Rehage, Heinz-Otto, Havill, Nathan P. & Foottit, Robert G., 2023, Discovery of the primary aphid (Hemiptera: Aphidomorpha) and scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) type specimens from the collection of Theodor Hartig (1805 - 1880), Zootaxa 5369 (1), pp. 89-116 : 104

Chermes sylvestris Hartig, 1851 nomen nudum

Chermes sylvestris Hartig, 1851: 67 . SYNTYPES: 9 (208 [2.10]; no field numbers [3.13-3.15]), Pinus .

Specimens. Following the “ Coccus sylvestris m. ” label, an unknown number of specimens covered in wax mounted in situ on a card-mounted pine twig, an unknown number of specimens covered in wax mounted in situ on a card-mounted group of eight pine needle bundles, an unknown number of specimens covered in wax mounted in situ on a rectangular card at the bases of four pine needle bundles, an unknown number of immatures mounted on a rectangular card, and one pointed individual (208) collected on the May 12, 1833 from pine branches. Hartig’s notes indicate that it was a female laying eggs and associated with wax. He identified it as “ Chermes ( abietis ?)” and has included a reference to a figure “19a” from an as yet unknown publication.

Also, beginning with the pin at the left of “ Chermes sylvestris m. ” label, an unknown number of specimens covered in wax mounted in situ on pine needles on 4 pins, with eight, four, eight, and two pine needles, respectively. We include the pin at the left of the label in this series since it is consistent with other specimens pinned in this series, whereas it is not consistent with Hartig’s Chermes abietis [= Adelges abietis ] Linnaeus, 1758 series in which it is placed. The “ Chermes sylvestris m. ” label reads “M[Mitte].7.1842 Forstg.” Possibly identifying the date of collection as mid-July, 1842 and the location as Forstgarten, Braunschweig, Germany. No number labels are present to allow referral to Hartig’s notes for details on their collection.

Remarks. In Hartig (1851), “ Chermes sylvestris m. ” is listed with several other scale insect and aphid species as sucking insects that are injurious to pine, but is the only species identified as having been recently observed. No taxonomic description or definition is provided, other than to say that it frequently occurred on three year old seedlings in Forstgarten, Braunschweig, Germany. Both Hartig (1839) and (1841) are indicated as sources for this list of species ( Hartig 1851, pg. 69). However, neither of these publications refer to “ Chermes sylvestris m. ” directly. Hartig (1839) did suggest that C. strobus and another related species on young pine trees may be distinct from the genus Coccus . For the latter, he provided the tentative name “ C. pini ?” and a brief description of the shape of its body and tibia relative to C. strobus . It is unclear whether the reference to Hartig (1839) in Hartig (1851) should be viewed as a proper indication, as the citation itself was attributed to his list of sucking insects and not specifically to the name C. sylvestris . Nor can it be determined whether “ C. pini ?” was among the taxa being referred to in Hartig (1839). Nevertheless, we believe that both his “ C. pini ?” and C. sylvestris are probably the same species now treated under the name Pineus pini ( Goeze, 1778) (see the discussion below). Thus, since no description, definition, or indication, is provided for C. sylvestris , the name is unavailable and should be treated as a nomen nudum (Article 12.1). We are not aware of any mention of the name “ Coccus sylvestris ” in Hartig’s publications.

We suspect that the specimens labelled “ Coccus sylvestris m. ” and “ Chermes sylvestris m. ” in Hartig’s collection are likely different forms of P. pini or Pineus orientalis ( Dreyfus, 1888) . Pineus pini and P. orientalis belong to a species complex with generations on Pinus that cannot be distinguished morphologically, the difference being that P. pini is anholocyclic on pine (most commonly on Pinus sylvestris in Europe) and P. orientalis is holocyclic, alternating between pine and spruce ( Blackman & Eastop 2023). The in situ specimens in both locations in the box are settled on what is very likely Pinus sylvestris , the common 2-needle pine in central Europe. Therefore, it is likely that the specimens labelled “ Coccus sylvestris m.” are the wingless exules that settle on the bark and base of needle bundles, and the specimens labelled “ Chermes sylvestris m. ” are the winged form that can originate from pine or spruce that settle on the needles. Host alternation between pine and spruce in this species complex was not confirmed until later ( Marchal 1913), and would not have been known to Hartig. Annand (1928) described a species Pineus sylvestris Annand, 1928 apparently without knowledge of Hartig’s previous mention of this species name.