Icerya mangiferae (Tang & Hao)

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 : 85-86

Icerya mangiferae (Tang & Hao)

Crypticerya mangiferae Tang & Hao, 1995: 151 .

Icerya mangiferae (Tang & Hao) ; Unruh & Gullan (2008: 41). Diagnosis (adapted from Tang & Hao, 1995). Appearance of adult female in life unknown. Slide-mounted adult female oval, 7.0 mm long, 5.0 mm wide. Antennae 10 segmented, each segment with hair-like setae. Legs as for genus. Hair-like setae short and slender on both dorsal and ventral surfaces, longest setae forming marginal clusters. Simple multilocular pores with elongate to trilocular centre, these pores densest around margins. Ovisac band absent. Marsupial band absent. Open-centre pores absent. Cicatrices oval to reniform, numbering 3, central cicatrix largest. Abdominal spiracles in 3 pairs.

Type data. CHINA: Yunnan Province, Jinghong, ex Mangifera indica and “Xiang–ti–guo” [=elephant’s shoe-shaped fruit] [= Ficus auriculata ].

Type material. Holotype: ad ♀ (ex Mangifera indica, EISC ). Paratypes: 13 ad ♀♀ ( EISC) .

Taxonomic notes. Refer to I. jacobsoni group for a discussion of similar species.

The holotype and four paratypes were collected on Mangifera indica and nine paratypes were collected on Ficus auriculata .

This species was transferred to Icerya based on the shape of the derm pores, and especially based on the enlargement of the derm pore that appears to be on a stalk, similar to those of I. jacobsoni , I. jaihind and I. assamensis . We suspect this species is probably identical to I. jacobsoni . Tang and Hao (1995: 564–565) stated that this species differs from I. jacobsoni by the shape of the cicatrices and the presence of simple multilocular pores with quadrilocular centre. A description of this pore is not present in the description of the species, but the pore is figured as an enlargement in the illustration of the adult female ( Tang & Hao, 1995: 684). We have examined several specimens of I. jacobsoni and have seen simple multilocular pores with a quadrilocular centre on the derm of the adult female. This pore type is rarely encountered, but present on almost all of the specimens that we examined. Unfortunately, we have not examined the type material of I. mangiferae and refrain from synonymizing this species with I. jacobsoni .