Coccus macarangicolus Takahashi

Gullan, Penny J., Kondo, Takumasa, Fiala, Brigitte & Quek, Swee-Peck, 2018, Taxonomy of coccids (Hemiptera: Coccidae: Coccus L.) associated with Crematogaster ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the stems of Macaranga plants (Euphorbiaceae) in Southeast Asia, Zootaxa 4521 (1), pp. 1-51 : 25-30

Coccus macarangicolus Takahashi

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9873F7EA-9473-4B56-B276-4B26D519309F

( Fig. 9 )

Coccus macarangicolus Takahashi, 1952: 14 .

Type material examined. Lectotype (here designated): adult female, PENINSULAR MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur, ex Macaranga , 26 Mar. 1944, coll. R. Takahashi, BMNH 1955-812, 1(1) ( BMNH). Originally, this slide was deposited in the Selangor Museum, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but after the loss of that institution, the remaining insect collections were sent to the BMNH in 1955, as documented by Williams (2017). Takahashi did not specify how many slides were prepared, but his description appears to have been based on a single adult female, which almost certainly is the one now in the BMNH. We believe that no other syntypes of C. macarangicolus exist. We have checked for other Takahashi specimens of this species in the Department of Agriculture Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, where some of Takahashi's mealybug specimens are deposited ( Sartiami et al. 2017), as well as in the Forest Research Institute Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and in digital databases at the Taiwan Agriculture Research Institute in Taiwan and the University of Hokkaido in Japan. The envelope of the BMNH syntype has a handwritten note: “Probably young of C. macarangae Morr. ”; TK determined this specimen to be an adult female as it has multilocular pores near the vulva.

Other material examined. PENINSULAR MALAYSIA: Selangor, Ulu Gombak , ex durian, 11 May 1944, coll. R. Takahashi, BMNH 1955-812, 1(19) ( BMNH). Even though this slide as a small circular BMNH label with the word " Type ", the specimens are not part of the type series because they were not mentioned in Takahashi's original description .

Coccus near macarangicolus : BORNEO: West Kalimantan, Siduk to Nanga Tayap, low elevation, ex Macaranga velutiniflora , 21 June 2002, coll. S.-P. Quek, SPQ.392, DNA voucher 1(1); Sarawak, 8 km Lambir, ex M. havilandii, Dec. 1992 , coll. H.-P. Heckroth, #170, 2(2).

Note. The original description ( Takahashi 1952: 15) refers to “ Kuala Lumpur, a few specimens, in hollow of the stems of Macaranga triloba (26.III.1944). Associated with Crematogaster inhabiting the host plant.” The correct identity of the host should be M. bancana (refer to M&M). One slide from the BMNH has specimens, which were collected by Takahashi from durian ( Durio sp., Malvaceae ), that were determined to belong to C. macarangicolus by TK and PJG. The latter specimens are not mentioned by Takahashi (1952). There are no recent collections of this species from near the type locality of Kuala Lumpur. Specimens identified as C. near macarangicolus are all from Borneo and they are discussed below under ‘Comments’. The description of the adult female is here based on the one available Takahashi specimen, which is designated here as the lectotype.

Unmounted material. “Yellow in life. Circular, a little convex dorsally, but oval and distinctly longer than wide when mounted on slides.” ( Takahashi 1952: 14).

Slide-mounted adult female (n=1; Fig. 9 ). Body elongate oval, 1.8 mm long, 1.4 mm wide.

Dorsum. Derm (dd) membranous, areolated, with lightly sclerotised irregular submarginal lines radiating inwards at right angles to margin. Dorsal setae (dset) slender, each 7–10 µm long, with apex rounded to slightly knobbed, scattered on dorsum. Simple pores (sp) each 2.0– 2.5 µm wide, scattered evenly on dorsum. Preopercular pores (pop) each 5–8 µm wide, 30 in total number, present in a longitudinal line anterior to anal plates. Dorsal microducts (dmic) in areolations each about 2 µm wide, appearing bilocular under high magnification. Anal plates (anplt) each triangular, anterolateral margin 1.1 times longer than posterolateral margin and posterolateral margin slightly convex, length of each plate 1.3 times width, inner lobes normal, with a tessellated texture, each plate 130 µm long, 78 µm wide, anterolateral margin 100 µm long, posterolateral margin 88 µm long; each plate with 4–5 dorsal setae, each seta up to 20 µm long. Anal ring (ar) probably bearing 10 setae [ Takahashi (1952: 15) said "6 stout setae" but he probably only saw the 3 pairs of robust setae], each 80–95 µm long.

Margin. Eyespots not detected. Marginal setae (mset) sharply spinose, present in 1 row, each seta 10–18 µm long, with 12–14 setae between anterior and posterior stigmatic areas on each side of body. Stigmatic setae (stgset) well developed, sharply spinose with pointed to rounded apices, numbering 3 (rarely 4), median setae longest, each 27–30 µm long, lateral setae each 12–18 µm long.

Venter. Derm membranous. Ventral setae (vset) slender, with some medial to submedial abdominal setae longest, each 17–38 µm long, elsewhere shorter, each 7–18 µm long. Interantennal setae in 2 pairs, each seta up to 18 µm long. Ventral tubular ducts (vtd) present in a broad submarginal band; each duct with outer ductule 15–18 µm long, inner ductule up 18 µm long, and duct opening about 2 µm wide. Ventral microducts (vmic) each about 2 µm wide, scattered fairly evenly on venter. Pregenital disc-pores (pgp) each with 8–10 loculi, each pore 6–7 µm wide. Antennae (ant) 7 segmented, each ~ 200 µm long; fleshy setae present on last 3 segments. Clypeolabral shield ~ 210 µm long and ~ 208 µm wide; labium not measured. Legs with hind trochanter + femur 87–95 µm long; hind tibia + tarsus 92–115 µm long; all tarsal digitules each 25–27 µm long; claw digitules each 12–15 µm long, claws each ~ 18 µm long. Spiracles normal: anterior peritremes each 50–58 µm wide; posterior peritremes each 62–68 µm wide. Spiracular pores (spp) each 5–6 µm wide, with 4–7 loculi.

Comments. Adult females of C. macarangicolus can be distinguished from all other species of Coccus known from Macaranga by the presence of short (7–10 µm) dorsal setae each with a rounded or knobbed apex. The adult females of C. macarangicolus are most similar to the adult females of C. circularis and C. macarangae in having fewer than 8 setae on each anal plate and having the marginal setae in a single row, but differ in that the marginal setae of C. macarangicolus never have fimbriate apices.

Adult females identified as C. near macarangicolus are from Borneo (lowland, near coastal localities in Sarawak and West Kalimantan) and we consider them to represent disjunct populations of C. macarangicolus . One of the latter females is DNA voucher specimen SPQ.392 that was placed as sister to the holotype of C. lambirensis in figure 3 of Quek et al. (2017), but the two specimens are quite distinct morphologically. The Bornean specimens of C. near macarangicolus are very similar to the lectotype of C. macarangicolus but differ in having fewer (4–8) preopercular pores that are of two sizes (5–6 µm and 2.5–3.0 µm). Given the very few specimens of C. macarangicolus available to allow study of variation, we have restricted the redescription to Takahashi's type specimen.

Heckroth et al. (1998, table 2) listed C. macarangicolus almost entirely from secondary forest in Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia, although there were very few records of it and we have not seen any of the specimens that Heckroth identified as this species.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Adult female of Coccus macarangicolus Takahashi. Abbreviations as in Fig. 3.