Lachnodius froggatti Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy

Hardy, Nate B., Beardsley Jr, John W. & Gullan, Penny J., 2019, A revision of Lachnodius Maskell (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Eriococcidae), ZooKeys 818, pp. 43-88 : 43

Lachnodius froggatti Beardsley, Gullan & Hardy sp. n. Figs 1 d, e, 5

Diagnosis.

Eyes on venter; dorsal derm membranous; two size classes of dorsal marotubular ducts, some larger ducts with seta touching rim.

Description.

Adult female (n = 30). Body outline circular to oval; length 2.3-8.9 mm (5.5 mm for holotype), greatest width 1.8-5.8 mm (4.3 mm for holotype). Eyes 47-75 μm wide, on venter between margin and scape. Antennae seven-segmented; length 760-1580 μm; with 6-9 hair-like setae on segment I, 8-21 hair-like seta on segment II, 20-28 hair-like seta on segment III, 10-18 hair-like seta on segment IV, 3-9 hair-like + one fleshy seta on segment V, 4-7 hair-like setae + one fleshy seta on segment VI and six hair-like setae + three fleshy setae on segment VII. Frontal lobes 150-340 µm long, 75-190 µm wide. Tentorial box 270-480 μm long, 200-330 μm wide, with anterior extension of the dorsal arms. Labium 110-155 μm long, 135-230 μm wide. Spiracles 140-305 μm long, 75-190 μm wide across atrium. Legs: trochanter + femur 545-1080 μm, tibia 420−940 µm, tarsus 150-270 μm; claw 43-70 μm; fore coxa with six setae, mid and hind coxae each with five setae, trochanter with 5-9 setae, femur with 20-40 setae, tibia with 18-51 setae, tarsus with 7-15 setae; tarsal digitules 63-98 μm long, claw digitules 45-68 μm long; translucent pores on all segments of hind leg. Anal ring 83-148 μm wide, with 18-29 setae; ring setae 100-225 μm long. Pair of elongate caudal setae absent.

Dorsum. Derm membranous. Dorsal setae 5-10 μm long, each parallel-side, with acute apex, scattered over dorsum. Macrotubular ducts of two size classes: (1) large ducts with rim of dermal orifice 8-10 µm in diameter, sometimes with seta touching rim, duct shaft 20-30 µm long, scattered over dorsum; (2) smaller ducts, rim of dermal orifice 5-6 µm in diameter, duct shaft 10-20 µm long, scattered over dorsum. Microtubular ducts ca. 5 μm long, with rim of dermal orifice ca. 2 μm wide, scattered over dorsum. Dorsum delimited by fringe of setae, each 18-53 µm long, ca. 200 setae in total on each side of body.

Venter. Ventral setae 18-183 μm long; elongate setae medial of each coxa 120−340 μm long; longest setae on head 185−365 μm long. Macrotubular ducts similar to those on dorsum; found wherever setae occur, in transverse band across each segment, scattered throughout submargin. Quinquelocular pores 5 μm in diameter, sparse, distributed as for macrotubular ducts, with cluster near each spiracle and caudad of vulva.

Second-instar female (n = 5). Broadly oval to nearly circular in outline; length 1.7-3.2 mm. Eyes ca. about one eye diameter removed from fringe line on venter. Antenna six-segmented, ca. 190 µm long, strongly tapered base to apex, segments except apical broader than long. Legs short and broad, all segments differentiated, claws vestigial. Anal ring ca. 35 µm wide, with ca. eight setae to ca. 36 µm long. Dorsum with small setae (4-8 mu long), sparse, spiniform. Dorsal macrotubular ducts, ca. 5 µm orifice diameter, 8 µm rim diameter, ca. 18-20 µm long, some with a satellite seta, sparsely scattered in submarginal band around periphery of body; minute tubular ducts (ca. 2 µm orifice diameter) interspersed among larger ducts. Marginal fringe a moderately sparse series of moderately slender conical setae, 18-28 µm long, with apices blunt or very slightly expanded; ca. 90 setae on each side. Antepenultimate setae slightly longer (30-40 µm long). Venter with very sparse setae, mostly 20-30 µm long, 40-50 µm between legs, to 75 µm on head. Ventral macrotubular ducts absent. Ventral quinquelocular pores sparsely scattered in submarginal peripheral band, plus slight concentrations near spiracles.

Notes.

The adult female of L. froggatti is most similar to that of L. eucalypti . See notes for L. eucalypti for a comparison. Populations of L. froggatti have been sampled from New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is known to feed on hosts in the subgenera Eucalyptus (section Eucalyptus) and Symphyomytrus (sections Adnataria and Maidenaria ). The live adult female is white to pale cream or yellow in life, and mature females produce copious dorsal glassy wax filaments and white powdery wax (Fig. 1d, e). The females have been found only on the leaves and the pit below the female’s body may be up to 1.5 mm deep (Fig. 1e). The leaf area around the feeding insect is often depressed and discolored or necrotic, and the opposite surface of the leaf has a bulge; on very young foliage, the female causes leaf curling.

Froggatt’s first accession notebook ( Gullan 1984a) has an entry for the specimen that we have designated as holotype, as follows: "(303) Dactylopius eucalypti?Large funnel leaf Penrith (No 1) (Berlese No 233)". The words "?Large funnel leaf" are written in different handwriting and inserted in the original entry. The mention of a Berlese number refers to part of this collection being sent to Berlese (presumably the Italian coccidologist Antonio Berlese) as a previous entry says "(Sent to Berlese No 230)". It seems that Froggatt confused L. froggatti with L. eucalypti , as shown by his identification of our holotype of L. froggatti (discussed above) as L. eucalypti , and also the following record. Two paratype females listed below have a Froggatt number of 27, which Froggatt’s first accession notebook records as from Wallsend, which is one of the localities listed by Froggatt (1917, 1921) for L. eucalypti . We have restricted the type series of L. froggatti to specimens from New South Wales. All specimens in the Froggatt collection are from this state.

Etymology.

This species is named in honor of the collector of the type material, the late WW Froggatt, an Australian entomologist employed by the New South Wales Department of Agriculture during the early decades of the 20th century. Froggatt was the first to seriously attempt a systematic treatment of the scale insect fauna of Australia. The species epithet is a noun in the genitive singular.

Material examined.

Holotype: New South Wales: adult female, on slide: ex open top pit gall on leaf, Eucalyptus sp., Penrith, 24 Nov 1899, W. W. Froggatt collection # 303 (ASCU); this specimen was removed from a dry gall and slide-mounted by JWB in April 1972. Paratypes: New South Wales: two adult females: ex leaf pit galls, Eucalyptus sp., WW Froggatt number 27 [from Wallsend, see note above], ASCTHE101355, ASCTHE101356 (ASCU); one adult female, three second-instar females: ex pits on leaves, Eucalyptus sp., 10 km S of Coonabarabran, roadside verge, 29 Nov 1984, PJG (ANIC); one second-instar female, ex pit in leaf of E. baueriana , ca. 6 km WSW of Narooma, Wagonga Scenic Drive, 36.24S, 150.97E, 31 Dec 2008, PJG (ANIC); two adult females, one second-instar female with pharate adult: ex pits in leaves, E. ? melliodora , Oallen, 1760 Oallen Ford Road, Windellama, 35.13S, 150.02E, 10 Jan 2018, PJG (ANIC). Additional material: South Australia: ten adult females, eleven first-instar nymphs: ex pits on leaves, E. viminalis , Adelaide, Glen Osmond, Waite Agric. Res. Institute, 3 Oct 1967, NC Stewart, HMB Specimen Index No. 31/67 (ANIC); two adult females, one adult male: ex pits on leaves, E. fasciculosa , Belair, National Park, 1 Nov 1963, TCR. White, HMB Specimen Index No. 48/63 (ANIC); three adult females: ex pits in leaves, Eucalyptus sp., Mannum, Jan 1971, P Allen (ANIC); one adult female: ex pit on leaf, E. obliqua , Netherby, 4 Jan 1964, PG Martin, 2/64 (ANIC); two adult females: ex pits on leaves, E. obliqua , Netherby, 28 Nov 1963, SW Brown, HMB Specimen Index No. 70/63 (ANIC). Victoria: one adult female: ex pit in leaf, E. ? microcarpa , 10 km S of Nagambie, on road to Avenel, 36.38S, 145.17E, 7 Feb 2004, PJG, LGC00107 (ANIC); one adult female: ex pit in leaf, E. microcarpa , 10 km S of Nagambie, on road to Avenel, 36.38S, 145.17E, 30 Jan 2005, PJG, NH118 (ANIC); four adult females: ex pits on leaves, E. melliodora , 9 km N of Nagambie, Weir Road, 500 m W of Hwy M39, 36.70S, 145.17E, 2 Jan 2003, PJG, NH156 (ANIC); ten first-instar nymphs (no associated adult females but of same morphology as nymphs from Adelaide listed above): ex pits on leaves, Eucalyptus sp. (mallee), Hattah Lakes Nat. Park, 30 Apr 1972, JWB (BPBM except one slide with four nymphs in ANIC); three adult females: ex leaf pits in leaf curls, E. largiflorens , Mildura, River Road, Apex Park, near Murray River, 34.16S, 142.16E, 4 Feb 2005, NBH and PJG, NH39, NH116, NH149 (ANIC).