Aonidiella yehudithae, Ben-Dov, 2006

Ben-Dov, Yair, 2006, Taxonomy of Aonidiella yehudithae sp. nov. and Lindingaspis misrae (Laing) comb. nov. with a key to species of Aonidiella Berlese & Leonardi (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae), Zootaxa 1190 (1190), pp. 51-57 : 52-54

Aonidiella yehudithae sp. nov.

( Fig. 1)

Scale of adult female. Scale black; circular, slightly convex, 2.5–3.0 mm in diameter; thin and almost transparent along margin; exuviae black, about 1 mm in diameter, placed more or less centrally.

Scale of adult male. Colour similar to that of female; oval, 1 mm wide, 1.5 mm long.

Young female circular 2–2.5 mm in diameter; fully­grown female circular, 4–6 mm in diameter. Prosoma reniform and heavily sclerotized at maturity; prosomatic lobes welldeveloped, but posterior apices not exceeding posterior apex of pygidium; margin of prosoma even, without notches or projections; apices of prosomatic lobes rounded. Pygidium with three well­developed lobes; fourth lobes represented by sclerotized projection from the margin, serrated apically. Median lobes longer than second and third lobes; median lobe with one notch on both inner and outer angles; each second lobe with one notch on outer angle; each third lobe with two notches on outer angle. With two fringed plates between median lobes, each slightly longer than lobes; with two plates between median and second lobe, each as long as median lobes; with two plates between second and third lobe, each about twice as long as second lobe, and with four plates between third and fourth lobe, each 2–3 times as long as third lobe. One marginal paraphysis placed at basal, outer angle of each of median, second and third lobes. Ducts (each 60–65 µm long, 1–2 µm wide, inner end 5–6 µm wide) extending from base of each plate, including plates between median lobes. Two to eight microducts, each about 20 µm long, placed on apex of each prosomatic lobe; 1 or 2 microducts, similar in structure but about 10 µm, placed on venter near mouthparts.

Dorsum. With a pair of transverse scleroses, separated medially, situated at base of pygidium. Anus semi­oval, diameter about 16 µm subequal to length of median lobes; situated at about half distance from pygidium apex to vulva. Dorsal pygidial macroducts one­barred, each about 54 µm long, 4 µm wide; without a macroduct between median lobes; with 45–50 macroducts distributed submarginally on segments VIII to IV.

Venter. Perivulvar pores absent. Prevulvar scleroses and apophyses absent. Meso­ and metathoracic spiracles without perispiracular disk­pores. Antennal tubercle bearing one seta, about 27 µm long.

Material examined

HOLOTYPE female, no. C:3492/17, and 35 female paratypes: GREECE, island of Crete, about 5 km south of Avgeniki, near the road to Agios Thomas , on leaves of Hedera helix , 22.v.2001, coll. Y. Ben­Dov. Holotype and some paratypes are deposited in the Coccoidea Collection , Department of Entomology , Agricultural Research Organization , Bet Dagan, Israel ( ICVI). Other paratypes will be deposited in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris ( MNHN) and in the Natural History Museum, London ( BMNH) .

Ecology

Dense populations of A. yehudithae were collected at the type locality on indigenous plants of Hedera helix . The host plant was creeping on the soil, in a natural, undisturbed small forest of oaks, Quercus sp.

Etymology

This species is named for my wife Yehudith Ben­Dov. Yehudith and I have travelled on many collecting trips in Israel, South Africa, France, Italy, Morocco, Canary Islands, Greece and China as well as on the Island of Crete, where this new species was discovered.

Taxonomic comments

Morphologically, Aonidiella yehudithae is affiliated to Aonidiella species that are characterized by the absence of perivulvar pores, absence of ventral prevulvar apophyses and scleroses, and in lacking conspicuous sclerotized projections along the margin of the prosoma. It differs from both A. sotetsu (Takahashi) and A. pini Young & Lu in having four plates between the third and fourth lobes, as compared to three plates in these other two species.