Carpochloroides Cockerell 1899

Miller, Douglass R. & Stocks, Ian C., 2022, New genera and species of felt scales (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Eriococcidae), with descriptions of new species and immature instars of described species, Zootaxa 5221 (1), pp. 1-213 : 48

Carpochloroides Cockerell 1899

Carpochloroides Cockerell 1899: 12 . Type species: Carpochloroides viridis Cockerell, 1899: 12–13 , by monotypy.

Generic diagnosis of adult female: legs absent or greatly reduced; microtubular ducts with single internal sclerotization, not divided, similar in form to macrotubular ducts but smaller; macrotubular ducts, when present, with shallow internal cup; multilocular pores usually of 5-locular type; antennae unsegmented; labium 1- or 2- segmented; anal ring greatly reduced, usually without pores and setae; clypeus often with large anterior apodemes; frontal lobes, preantennal tubercles and cruciform pores absent.

Notes: Ferris (1957) described a second species (Carpo. mexicanus ), which induces galls even though the type species (Carpo. viridis ) from Brazil was not found in a gall. Based on morphology, there is reasonable evidence to place both species in the same genus. Since the mounted specimens were in such poor condition, the first author decided to look at dry material that Ferris retained and found a very interesting dilemma while examining the insides of the galls: there were two morphologically distinct adult females present. We have treated the two different types of adult female as specimens of two different species, i.e., Carpo. mexicanus and Carpo. eugeniae Miller and Stocks sp. n. It is unclear if there were mixed infestations in more than one gall. However, the fact that immature instars of Carpo. eugeniae were the only ones found in the galls suggests the possibility that Carpo. mexicanus specimens invaded the galls induced by Carpo. eugeniae . This hypothesis was first suggested by Penny Gullan (ANU, Australian National University, and ANIC, Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra) when reviewing the manuscript. Another hypothesis is that the two kinds of adult females are morphotypes of the same species. We have decided to proceed with describing Carpo. eugeniae as a new species to direct attention to its unusual life history and morphology. A third hypothesis is that one of the kinds of adult females is an inquiline within the confines of the gall induced by the second kind of adult female, but this seems unlikely. It also is of interest that Carpo. eugeniae has second-instar males with legs and second-instar females that are legless. This is unusual within the Coccomorpha.

Etymology: The generic epithet Carpochloroides was composed by Cockerell (1899) and apparently refers to the body of the adult female, which resembles the green fruit of the Eugenia host. It is derived from the Greek words “ karpos ” meaning “fruit”, “ chloros ” meaning “green”, and “ oeidos ” meaning “likeness of form”. It is a masculine noun ( Williams 2011).