Antonina graminis (Maskell)

MOGHADDAM, MASUMEH & WATSON, GILLIAN W., 2022, The Scale Insects Of Iran (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) Part 2 The Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae And Rhizoecidae) And Putoidae, Zootaxa 5126 (1), pp. 1-169 : 24-26

Antonina graminis (Maskell)

( Fig. 3 , distribution map Fig. 66 B )

Sphaerococcus graminis Maskell, 1897: 244 . Chaetococcus graminis Maskell, 1898: 250 . Antonina indica Green, 1908: 27 . Antonina littoralis Cockerell & Bueker, 1930: 1 .

Field characteristics: Usually found in the crown or nodes of grass. Body broadly oval to circular, its contents dark purple or brown; enclosed in a white, felted sac that turns yellow with age; without lateral wax filaments but usually with a long, slender, fragile white wax tube protruding through the ovisac at posterior end of the body.

Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female almost quadrate, with posteriormost segments sclerotized. Anal lobes poorly developed. Antennae each reduced to 2 or 3 segments. Legs absent or sometimes represented by leg apophyses only. Cerarii absent. Spiracles surrounded by multilocular disc pores. Circulus absent. Ostioles absent. Anal ring situated at inner end of an invaginated anal tube. Vulva oval, often with speckled appearance.

Dorsum with minute lanceolate to conical setae, and setae on posterior margin mostly stiff and blunt. Multilocular disc pores absent. Trilocular pores, each with a thick rim, evenly distributed on head and thorax, fewer on abdomen. Oral collar tubular ducts of 2 sizes: wider ducts present near base of sclerotized areas on abdominal segments VII and VIII and on lateral margins of abdominal segment VI; narrower ducts abundant in unsclerotized areas.

Venter with minute setae as those on dorsum. Multilocular disc pores each with 10 loculi, present across median and submedian areas of thorax and abdomen. Trilocular pores, same as on dorsum, distributed on head, thorax and abdomen; smaller trilocular pores present in compact groups immediately next to spiracular openings. Disc-like pores, each with a well-defined rim and tessellated surface, varying in size from smaller than trilocular pore to about as large as multilocular disc pore, present in wide submedian band from metathorax to abdominal segment VII, and lateral to multilocular disc pores. Oral collar tubular ducts of 2 sizes; wide pores present on posterior sclerotized area; narrow ducts, same as on dorsum, evenly distributed and fairly numerous on membranous cuticle.

Distribution: Antonina graminis occurs in 98 countries from the Afrotropical, Australian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions ( García Morales et al. 2016). In Iran, it occurs in Bushehr, Fars and Khouzestan provinces ( Moghaddam 2013b).

Host-plants: The species has been recorded on host-plants in 63 genera belonging to the families Cyperaceae , Euphorbiaceae , Orchidaceae and Poaceae ( García Morales et al. 2016) ; in Iran, it is found on Poa sp. , Saccharum officinarum and Sorghum halepense (Poaceae) ( Moghaddam 2013b).

Economic importance: None.

Natural enemies: None recorded in Iran.

Comments: The accompanying illustration is reproduced from Moghaddam (2013a), page 12, Fig. 4 , with kind permission from the Chief Editor of Zootaxa.

Genus ARTEMICOCCUS Balachowsky

Artemicoccus Balachowsky, 1953a: 146 . Type species: Centrococcus bispinus Borchsenius, 1949 , by original designation.

Principal characters: Body of adult female oval to broadly oval. Anal lobes well developed. Antennae each with 7 segments. Posterior pair of spiracles always larger than anterior spiracles, each spiracle associated with trilocular pores by atrial opening. Legs well developed, claw with a denticle; tarsal digitules hair-like, not capitate; claw digitules broader than tarsal digitules, knobbed. Cerarii numbering 7‒18 pairs, each containing 1‒7 enlarged conical setae. Circulus absent. Both pairs of ostioles absent. Ventral multilocular disc pores, present on posterior abdominal segments, especially around vulva, sometimes also on thorax and head. Quinquelocular pores present or absent on venter around median area of thorax or scattered over surface. Dorsal trilocular pores often slightly larger than those on venter, scattered. Minute discoidal pores scattered on dorsum and venter. Anal ring oval, with 1 inner row of pores and 1 or 2 outer rows of pores, and bearing 6 setae.

Comments: Artemicoccus was considered to be a junior synonym of Coccidohystrix Lindinger by some authors ( Danzig & Gavrilov-Zimin 2014; Gavrilov-Zimin & Matile-Ferrero 2014; Gavrilov-Zimin 2016); however, here it is considered to be a genus distinct from Coccidohystrix in accordance with Kaydan et al. (2015) and Moghaddam (2015). In Artemicoccus and Coccidohystrix the anterior and posterior ostioles are missing, and both genera are considered to be of Old World or Palaearctic origin ( Williams 2004). Balachowsky (1953a) clarified the morphological differences between the two genera and added some important biological observations: "in Artemicoccus the adult females were enclosed in a felt eggsac, in Coccidohistryx the adult females were mobile and covered with powdery wax". Danzig et al. (2012) considered these two genera separate, following Balachowsky (1953a) and Ben-Dov (1994), and provided a key for their differentiation. The main morphological diagnostic character between the two genera is the situation of the dorsal conical setae: in Coccidohystrix these setae are situated on sclerotised prominences, while in Artemicoccus they are on flat, membranous cuticle. The collection of two new species referred to Artemicoccus and Coccidohystrix provided an opportunity to reconsider the morphology of these controversial taxa, informed also by a recent phylogenetic study that placed these genera in separate, distinct clades (Kaydan et al. 2015). In the present study the authors agree with Balachowsky (1953a), Ben-Dov (1994), Danzig et al. (2012) and Moghaddam (2015) in regarding Coccidohystrix and Artemicoccus as separate genera.

Worldwide, six species are included in Artemicoccus (Kaydan et al. 2015) ; two species are known from Iran (Moghaddam 2015).

Key to species of Artemicoccus in Iran

1(0) Dorsum of head and thorax with cellular plates of irregular form; claw with a denticle............ bispinus (Borchsenius)

- Dorsum of head and thorax without cellular plates of irregular form; claw without a denticle............................................................................................. poacearum Moghaddam & Watson sp. n.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Adult female of Antonina graminis (Maskell). © Magnolia Press, www.mapress.com/j/zt, reproduced with the copyright holder’s permission.

FIGURE 4. Adult female of Artemicoccus bispinus Borchsenius.

FIGURE 66. Maps of species distributions in Iran. A. Antonina crawi Cockerell; B. Antonina graminis (Maskell); C. Artemicoccus bispinus Borchsenius; D. Artemicoccus poacearum Moghaddam & Watson sp. n.; E. Brevennia (Brevennia) rehi (Lindinger); F. Ceroputo pilosellae Šulc; G. Chorizococcus pazoukii Moghaddam; H. Chorizococcus viticola Kaydan & Kozár; I. Coccidohystrix burumandi Moghaddam; J. Coccura circumscripta (Kiritshenko); K. Dysmicoccus angustifrons (Hall); L. Dysmicoccus boninsis (Kuwana).