Crypticerya Cockerell

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 : 23

Crypticerya Cockerell

Icerya (Crypticerya) Cockerell, 1895: 15 . Type species: Icerya rosae Riley & Howard. Elevated to genus by Cockerell (1899b: 4).

Icerya (Proticerya) Cockerell, 1895: 15 . Type species: Icerya rileyi Cockerell. Synonymy by Unruh & Gullan (2008: 24).

Steatococcus Ferris, 1921: 69 . Type species: Palaeococcus morrilli Cockerell. Synonymy by Unruh & Gullan (2008: 24).

Crypticerya is the second largest genus in the tribe comprising 22 species found only in the New World. The genus is defined by the absence of both open-centre and compound multilocular pores. The adult female of most species forms an ovisac, but in several species restricted to North America, the adult female forms a marsupium. The adult female of only three Crypticerya species clusters the eggs in an ovisac beneath the body.

Generic description of adult female and first-instar nymph of Crypticerya

In life, adult female clustering eggs beneath the body, or forming a waxy ovisac or an internal marsupium. Slide-mounted adult female oval to elliptical, 2.2–7.2 mm long, 1.2–4.6 mm wide, often broadest across abdomen. Eyes, mouthparts and legs as for tribe. Antennae 9 to 11 segmented. Setal distribution as for tribe. Simple multilocular pores with bilocular or trilocular centre and 6–12 outer loculi, scattered over entire surface. Simple multilocular pores with trilocular, quadrilocular or quinquelocular centre (appearing triangular, cruciform or star-shaped) and 6–8 outer loculi in submedial clusters on dorsal head and thorax, and marginal clusters of ventral head and thorax of some Neotropical species. Ovisac band absent, or if present, with or without dense setae. Marsupium absent, or if present, marsupial band forming a complete circle of setae and multilocular pores with bilocular or trilocular centre, derm becoming sclerotized with maturity. Vulvar opening surrounded by hair-like setae and multilocular pores with round, bilocular or trilocular centre and 12–20 outer loculi. Cicatrices each circular to elliptical, 1–11 arranged in a transverse row or semicircle. Abdominal spiracles in 3 pairs on abdominal segments VI–VIII; simple multilocular pores with bilocular or trilocular centre sometimes in a cluster on derm outside each spiracular opening. Anal opening and anal ring as for tribe. Tubercles absent, or if present, on ventral margins and on dorsum in transverse and midventral rows.

Slide-mounted first-instar nymph as for tribe except in the following features: abdominal spiracles in 3 pairs; anal tube with 6–8 pores at opening; dorsal submedial row of 1–3 multilocular pores on each side of metathorax and most abdominal segments, and long hair-like setae at abdominal apex in 2 or 3 pairs.