Coccus nanningensis Cao & Feng, 2022

Cao, Tong, Watson, Gillian W., Hodgson, Chris J., Jing, Qi & Feng, Ji-Nian, 2022, The genera Coccus and Prococcus (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) in China with two new combinations and descriptions of two new species, Zootaxa 5087 (1), pp. 112-128 : 120-122

Coccus nanningensis Cao & Feng , sp. n.

( Figs 4 and 5 )

Material examined. Holotype adult ♀: CHINA, Guangxi Province: label: Nanning, Guangxi Province, China / Guangxi University of Finance and Economics / 10.viii.2019 on Ficus carica (Moraceae) / Cao Tong ( NWAFU) / Coccus nanningensis Cao & Feng ; holotype on the left side, circled . Paratypes ♀♀: 1 adult female on the same slide with holotype, in the lower right corner, plus 1 slide with 2 adult females, and another 2 slides each with 3 adult females, collection data same as holotype ( NWAFU). All the slide labels ( Fig. 5 ) are written in Chinese .

Description (data taken from all 10 specimens)

Adult female in life. Body oval to subcircular, yellowish-brown to pale brown, with symmetrical dark spot present on dorsum.

Slide-mounted adult female. Body elongate oval to broadly oval; 1.5–2.0 mm long, 1.0– 1.5 mm wide. Anal cleft approximately 1/7–1/6 of body length.

Dorsum. Derm with small circular clear cell-like areolations distributed over entire dorsum, becoming well developed on older females. Dorsal microducts present singly in areolations. Setae setose, fine and pointed, each with a well-developed basal socket, scattered, each about 8–13 μm long. Submarginal tubercles present on anterior half of body only (with 1 or 2 on each side, numbering 0‒2 between anterior stigmatic clefts on head, 0 or 1 between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts on each side), absent from abdominal region. Dorsal tubular ducts absent. Preopercular pores absent. Anal plates each triangular, together quadrate, 111–144 μm long, 82–92 μm wide, width of anal plates together slightly longer than their length, anterolateral margin 108–114 μm long, posterolateral margin 109–119 μm long, length of posterior margin almost equal to anterior margin, outer angle slightly obtuse; each plate with a well-developed supporting bar, and a robust discal seta with a pointed apex, 41–57 μm long; also 3 apical setae, each 15–17 μm long.Anogenital fold with 3 pairs of anterior margin setae, each 51–63 μm long, and 3 pairs of lateral marginal setae, each 41–68 μm long. Anal ring subcircular, bearing 8 anal ring setae. Eyespots not found.

Margin. Marginal setae lengths variable, 22–67 μm long, in 1 or 2 rows, with well-developed basal sockets, structure highly varied, mostly rather long and extremely robust, but some with apices branched or bifurcate, others either conical, straight or curved with pointed apices (hard to distinguish from the stigmatic spine), or with apices swollen, sagittate or spatulate, or setose, extremely slender, fine and sharply pointed; with 39–45 setae between anterior stigmatic clefts, 10–12 setae on each side between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts, and 22–25 setae between the posterior stigmatic cleft and anal cleft. Stigmatic clefts shallow but distinct, each cleft containing 3 slender, tapering and bluntly spinose stigmatic spines, with well-developed basal sockets; median spine longest, 108–126 μm long, about 2.5–6.5 times as long as a lateral spine, each 21–47 μm long; (one specimen with one cleft containing 1 stigmatic spine, this only as long as a normal lateral spine).

Venter. Derm membranous. Antennae each with 7 segments, total antennal length 355–383 μm, segment III longest, 79–83 μm long; lengths of other segments in μm: I, 46–54; II, 42–45; IV, 54–71; V, 33–37; VI, 32–39; and VII, 61–81. Setal distribution on antenna: scape 3; pedicel 2; III, 0; IV, 2 or 3; V & VI, each segment with 1 fleshy seta and 1 hair-like seta; VII with 3 fleshy setae, 3 stiff setae and 2 hair-like setae. Inter-antennal setae numbering 3 or 4 pairs, comprising 1 pair of long outer setae, each 64–66 μm long, and 2 or 3 pairs of short inner setae, each 11–15 μm long. Long pregenital setae numbering 2 pairs (1 specimen with 3 pregenital setae on one side but other side with only 2, a total of 5 setae on 3 segments), each seta 79–83 μm long. Other ventral setae setose, fine, sparsely distributed over entire venter, each seta 9–17 μm long. Submarginal setae not observed. Legs well developed, each with a tibio-tarsal articulation but no articulatory sclerosis; tibia 115–122 μm long, longer than tarsus; tarsus 85–97 μm long. Claw without a denticle; claw digitules similar, each broad and expanded at apex, about 30–31 μm long. Tarsal digitules longer than claw digitules, slender, knobbed, expanded at apex, each about 44–50 μm long. Spiracles normal, without sclerotic plates. Spiracular disc pores mostly each with 5 loculi in outer ring, occasionally 4 or 6; spiracular pore bands narrow, each 2 or 3 rows wide. Anterior spiracular pore band with 15–23 pores, posterior spiracular pore band with 20–33 pores. Multilocular disc pores each primarily with 7 loculi, occasionally with 8‒10, restricted to genital area (segment VII). Ventral tubular ducts absent.

Etymology. The species epithet nanningensis is formed from the name of the place where this new species was collected, i.e., the city of Nanning, combined with the Latin suffix - ensis, meaning ‘from’.

Host plant. The species was collected from the leaves of Ficus carica L.

Distribution. CHINA: Guangxi Province.

Comments. The adult female of C. nanningensis sp. n. is morphologically similar to two African species, C. inyangombae Hodgson, 1967 and C. sordidus De Lotto, 1957 , both of which also lack tubular ducts from both dorsum and venter, and have marginal setae mostly with branched or fimbriate apices.

The new species can be separated from C. inyangombae as follows (data for C. inyangombae from Hodgson (1967) given in brackets): (i) dorsal setae setose, extremely fine and pointed, sparsely scattered (robust and pointed, quite numerous); (ii) anal plates each with a robust discal seta with pointed apex (without discal setae); (iii) anogenital fold with 6 anterior margin setae (with 4 anterior margin setae); (iv) marginal setae mainly rather long and highly variable in structure, some with apices branched or bifurcate; some conical, straight or curved with apices pointed; some with apices swollen, sagittate or spatulate; some setose, slender, fine and sharply pointed, but mostly without fimbriate apices (all rather long with fimbriate apices); (v) marginal setae between anterior and posterior stigmatic clefts numbering 10‒12 on each side (5‒7 on each side); (vi) antenna with 7 segments (with 8 segments); and (vii) pregenital setae mainly numbering 2 pairs (3 pairs).

Coccus nanningensis sp. n. can be separated from C. sordidus as follows (data for C. sordidus from De Lotto (1957) given in brackets): (i) body oval to subcircular, 1.5–2.0 mm long, 1.0– 1.5 mm wide (elongate and asymmetric, up to 5.2 mm long and up to 3.7 mm wide); (ii) anal plates each with a robust discal seta with a pointed apex (without discal setae); (iii) anogenital fold with 6 anterior margin setae (with 4 anterior margin setae); (iv) marginal setae mainly rather long and highly variable in structure, some with apices branched or bifurcate; some conical, straight or curved with apices pointed; some with apices swollen, sagittate or spatulate; some setose, slender, fine and sharply pointed, but mostly without fimbriate apices (all rather long with slightly fimbriate apices); (v) antenna with 7 segments (with 8 segments); (vi) pregenital setae mostly numbering 2 pairs (3 pairs); (vii) leg without a tibiotarsal articulatory sclerosis (with a tibio-tarsal articulatory sclerosis); and (viii) multilocular disc pores restricted to genital area only (resent around genital area and on preceding 2 or 3 abdominal segments).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Adult female of Coccus nanningensis sp. n. Abbreviations: AGF ano-genital fold; ANP anal plates; ANT antenna; DA body derm appearance; DMD dorsal microduct; DS dorsal setae; DT dorsal tubercles; LG tibio-tarsal joint of hind leg; MS marginal setae; MDP multilocular disc pores; POP preopercular pore; SDP spiracular disc pores; SP spiracle; SSP stigmatic spines; VS ventral setae.

FIGURE 5. A photograph of the type slides of Coccus cephalotaxus Cao & Feng sp. n. (bottom) and C. nanningensis Cao & Feng sp. n. (top) to facilitate future recognition. The holotype specimen on each slide is ringed in blue.