Tanyscelis conica (Fuller) Hardy, Nate B. & Gullan, Penny J., 2010

Hardy, Nate B. & Gullan, Penny J., 2010, Australian gall-inducing scale insects on Eucalyptus: revision of Opisthoscelis Schrader (Coccoidea, Eriococcidae) and descriptions of a new genus and nine new species, ZooKeys 58, pp. 1-74 : 19-20

Tanyscelis conica (Fuller) comb. n. Figs 2a,b11

Opisthoscelis conica Fuller 1897: 1346; Fuller 1899: 464.

General.

Fuller’s (1897: 1346) original description of Opisthoscelis conica is very brief: "Upon one side of the leaf arises the conical apex, whilst on the other the gall protrudes as a hemisphere." Later Fuller (1899) published a more detailed description with an illustration of three galls of females on a leaf and a hind leg of an adult female (plate XV, figs 33-34). The galls in Fuller’s drawing are very similar to syntype galls housed in the SAMA (see "Material examined" for details), but no insects have been found in the SAMA or elsewhere (e.g., not in the South African National Collection of Insects where some other Fuller material is housed). The type locality of Opisthoscelis conica was given as Midland Junction in Fuller (1897) but as Swan River in Fuller (1899), however it is unlikely that there were two localities for this species because Fuller published the second paper from South Africa based on notes that he had made during eight or nine months spent collecting in Perth prior to his 1897 paper. Midland Junction, now the suburb of Midland, is several km east of the Swan River and, in the 1890s, it was a railway station and associated village.

Gall

(Fig. 2a,b). Female. On leaf. Height 5.0-7.0 mm (= total height above and below leaf blade), width 5.0-9.5 mm. Gall opening slit-like, 0.5-0.8 mm long; on abaxial or adaxial surface, but all galls opening on same surface on any one leaf. Side of gall with opening conical, other side convex, globose (Fig. 2b).

Male. Not known.

Adult female

(Fig. 11) (n = 8). Body outline turbinate, margin incised at intersegmental boundaries, length 2.5-3.7 mm, greatest width 1.1-2.5 mm; abdomen tapered, about as long as head + thorax, extending far beyond femur. Eyespots small, each 18-25 mm wide. Antennae 1-segmented, each 35-108 mm long. Frontal lobes difficult to see, each ca 170 µm long, 200 µm wide. Tentorial box 350-470 mm long. Pump chamber 30-43 µm long, 38-48 µm wide. Labium 85-113 mm long, 95-140 mm wide. Spiracles 70-105 mm long, 45-63 mm wide across atrium. Fore and mid legs small sclerotic protuberances; fore leg 20-35 µm long, with 6-8 setae; mid leg larger, 38-80 µm long, with 10-12 setae. Hind legs robust and elongate; coxa 180-260 µm long, trochanter about as a long as femur, the two combined 450-610 µm long, tibia and tarsus fused, forming straight, sword-like segment 720-1880 µm long; claw and digitules absent; translucent pores dense throughout distal region of dorsal and ventral surfaces of tibiotarsus; femur-tibia articulation poorly developed. Anal opening poorly formed, 15-28 µm wide, surrounded by dense cluster of setae.

Dorsum. Derm membranous. Dorsal setae robust, often slightly curved, 15-138 mm long; dense over head and thorax, forming transverse band of longer setae on each abdominal segment. Macrotubular ducts 10-15 mm long, dermal orifice with a rim 5 mm wide; in transverse row on each of abdominal segments III–VI. Microtubular ducts absent. Quinquelocular pores 6-8 µm in diameter, scattered over dorsum.

Venter. Derm on abdomen with bands of microtrichia. Setae 15-150 mm long, in a transverse row across each abdominal segment, dense along margin and submargin of head and thorax, medial cluster on mesothorax and metathorax. Macrotubular ducts similar to those on dorsum, in sparse transverse rows across each of abdominal segments III-VI. Microtubular ducts absent. Quinquelocular pores similar to those on dorsum, similar in distribution to ventral setae.

Material examined.

Type material: AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 3 syntype galls of females, dry and empty (2 dissected open, third gall parasitised), on 2 leaves, all on pin-mount, 2 labels: " Opisthoscelis Schrader / conica, Fuller, sp. n. Type / Perth, W. Australia / C. Fuller / 28.7.97" and " Perth, W. A. / Opisthoscelis / conica Fuller / m/s / 28.7.97" (SAMA).

Additional material:

AUSTRALIA: South Australia: 4 first-instar nymphs: ex galls on leaves, Eucalyptus dumosa , Danggali Conservation Park, Main Road site 1, -33.29°; 140.59°, 21 Apr., 1996, PJG (ANIC); 2 adult females, 35 first-instar nymphs: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus dumosa , Danggali Conservation Park, Main Road, Site 1, -33.29°; 140.59°, 22 Apr., 1996, PJG (ANIC); 2 adult females: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus dumosa , Danggali Conservation Park, Main Road, Site 4, -33.28°; 140.59°, 23 Apr., 1996, PJG (ANIC); 2 adult females: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus dumosa , Danggali Conservation Park, Tipperary Dam– Canopus Road, Site 6, -33.27°; 140.72°, 24 Apr., 1996, PJG (ANIC). Victoria: 2 adult females: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus sp.(mallee), 25 km N of Ouyen, on Calder Hwy, 22 Apr., 1994, T. Murphy (ANIC); 2 adult females: Eucalyptus incrassata , Big Desert, Moonlight Tank, 13 Feb., 1977, PJG (ANIC); 1 adult female: ex leaf gall Eucalyptus incrassata , Big Desert, Wyperfeld National Park, 13-18 Aug., 1977, T. P. O’Brien (ANIC); 2 adult females: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus dumosa , ca 20 km N of Hattah, Calder Highway, -34.68°; 142.25°, 5 Feb., 2005, PJG and NBH, NH48 (ANIC); 1 adult female: ex leaf gall, Eucalyptus dumosa , ca 20 km W of Mittyack, Calder Highway, -35.17°; 142.45°, 5 Feb., 2005, PJG and NBH, NH76 (ANIC). Western Australia: 6 adult females: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus?wandoo , 2.3 km S of Boddington and 18 km SSW of North Bannister, 5 Jan., 1986, PJG (ANIC); 2 adult females: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus wandoo , 44 km N of Williams, Albany Hwy, 29 Mar, 1978, PJG (ANIC); 3 adult females, 1 second-instar female: ex leaf galls, Eucalyptus accedens , Coomallo, off Brand Hwy, on dam edge, -30.23°; 115.40°, 3 Dec., 1990, PJG (ANIC); 1 adult female, 3 second-instar females: ex galls on leaves, Eucalyptus wandoo , Woodanilling, Great Southern Hwy, at crossroads, -33.57°; 117.43°, 1 Dec., 1994, PJG (ANIC).

Comments.

The adult female of Tanyscelis conica would be difficult to confuse with the adult female of any other known species of Tanyscelis . The fusion of the hind tibia and tarsus into a broad, sword-like appendage is unique. Both the form of the dorsal setae (robust and slightly curved) and their dense distribution also separate adult females of Tanyscelis conica from those of other species. Known populations of Tanyscelis conica occur in two disjunct clusters, one centered around Perth in southwest Western Australia, and the other in forest reserves in northwestern Victoria and southeastern Australia (e.g., Danggali Conservation Park, Wyperfield National Park, Hattah-Kulkyne National Park). Despite the great distance separating the two, ca 2000 km, the morphology is homogeneous. Tanyscelis conica is the only species of Tanyscelis known from Western Australia. Only one species of Opisthoscelis , the type species Opisthoscelis subrotunda , has been collected from Western Australia, in the Kimberley region, which is a great distance (> 1,500 km) north of Perth. Tanyscelis conica is also the only known species of Tanyscelis or Opisthoscelis known to feed on mallee eucalypt species in the section Dumaria , and along with Opisthoscelis ungulifinis , is one of only two species in this group known to feed on eucalypts in the section Bisectae .