Ceroplastes singularis Newstead

Hodgson, Chris J. & Peronti, Ana L. B. G., 2012, 3372, Zootaxa 3372, pp. 1-265 : 143-145

Ceroplastes singularis Newstead

( Fig. 66; Map fig. 105)

Ceroplastes singularis Newstead, 1910b: 188 .

Ceroplastes hololeucus De Lotto, 1969a: 413 . Syn. nov.

Ceroplastes hololeucus De Lotto ; Almeida, 1973: 2; Ben-Dov 1993: 39.

Material examined. Ceroplastes singularis . Lectotype ♀ (here designated): Uganda: left label: Colonial Office / Ent. Res. Com. (Trop. Agric.) / No. 1275b / On Guava / Entebbe / 25/II/10 / Type ♀; right label: Ceroplastes / singularis / Newstead / Cotype ♀ adult / BM 1945, 121 ( BMNH): 1/1 young (poor, unstained, body broken and spread out over slide).

Paralectotype ♀: as for lectotype ( BMNH): 1/1 (poor) + 3 slides with nymphs .

Ceroplastes hololeucus : Paratypes ♀: Angola, Novo Redondo , from Elaeis guineensis Jacq., 10.iii.1967, H. Cardoso ( SANC #3439 ): 2/2 (good) .

Other material: Uganda, Kampala, 15.i.1971, Musanga cecropioides, D.N. McNutt ( SANC #4508 ): 2/2 (good) . Democratic Republic of the Congo, no other data apart from coll. J. Ghesquière #7190 ( MNHN, TERV): 2/7 (fair to good) .

Note. The type specimen of C. singularis was too poor to make the description from and therefore the description was made from the Angolan ( C. hololeucus ), Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ugandan specimens. The data for C. singularis were similar unless otherwise stated, when comments/measurements are given in [..] brackets.

Unmounted material. C. singularis : “Test of adult female hemispherical; thin and very hard; texture fairly smooth; dorsum with a faintly indicated plate, almost circular in outline, with indications also of 3 lateral plates; colour dirty ochreous.” ( Newstead, 1910b: 188).

Unmounted material. C. hololeucus : “Immature adult females flattish, disc-like in shape; wax test faintly divided into plates: three bilateral, 1 cephalic and 1 dorsal; at the centre of each of them there is a small and elongate boss; colour in the test in material stored in alcohol evenly white; wax rather brittle in texture” ( De Lotto, 1969a: 413).

Mounted material. Body broadly elliptical to roundly circular, length 1.3–2.4 [about 2] mm, width 0.9–1.75 [?] mm. Dermal processes obscure.

Dorsum. Derm entirely membranous on young individuals, except for heavily sclerotised caudal process. Caudal process short, conical, 0.25–0.5 mm long and 0.25–0.55 [0.3] mm wide. Derm with eight clear areas, distributed as usual. Dorsal setae rather variable, mainly spiniform and often longer than width of basal socket but many almost parallel-sided and cylindrical with a blunt apex; length 2.5–7.0 [3.5–5.0] µm; basal socket width 3.5–5.0 µm; present sparsely throughout and also in anterior and mediodorsal clear areas. Dorsal pores: (i) loculate microducts of rusci-type most abundant, each about 4.0–6.5 µm wide, those with 2 satellite loculi scarce, mainly seen in wax-plate lines; pores with 3 or more loculi not detected; present throughout but absent from all clear areas; wax-plate lines present, and (ii) simple microducts of 2 sizes: a very small pore, width about 1 µm, present sparsely in clear areas, and a larger, rounder pore, at least twice as wide, present throughout wherever larger loculate microducts found but most common is wax-pore lines. Preopercular pores in a transverse band of 4–11 [about 15] pores. Anal plates rather rounded, each 125–150 [128] µm long, combined width 125–166 [140] µm; each with 3–5 [3] pairs of large setae dorsally plus a shorter seta on outer margin near apex. Anal tube subequal to length of anal plates [unknown].

Margin. Marginal setae strongly setose; each 23–28 [35] µm long; very sparse, with 2–4 [2] between eyespots, and (on each side) 0 or 1 between eyespots and anterior cleft, 1 between clefts, none found on abdominal margins; each anal lobe with 3 larger setae, each 58–76 [53–70] µm long. Stigmatic setae conical and rather variable in size, each 8.5–12.5 [7–11] µm long; 5.5–6.0 [3–10] µm wide at base, present in a band 1–2 setae wide [mainly 1] around entire margin, with clusters of slightly larger setae in 3–5 irregular rows in each stigmatic cleft; with 27–61 [34] between eyespots; and on each side, 11–33 [14–16] between eyespots and middle of each anterior stigmatic area, 19–69 [19–22] between centre of each stigmatic area, and 55–130 [72] from centre of each stigmatic area posteriorly on each side of abdomen. Eyespots each about 26–31 [28] µm wide.

Venter. Derm entirely membranous. Pregenital disc-pores abundant around vulva and across preceding segment; much less frequent medially on segment V and with 1–15 medially and 0–3 mediolaterally on IV, and 0–4 medially on segment III [unknown]. Spiracular disc-pores present in a broad band laterad to each spiracle, each band about 1.5 to 2 times width of peritreme [probably narrower], abundant and with a few extending medially past peritreme [none]. Ventral microducts showing nothing distinctive. Ventral tubular ducts not detected either on head or on abdominal folds. Submarginal setae 10–15 [12] µm long, with perhaps 8–10 [13] between eyespots, and (on each side) 3–6 [4–6] between eyespot and anterior stigmatic clefts, 8 [7 or 8] on each side between stigmatic clefts and maybe about 18–22 [25] each side of abdomen.

Antennae each with 6 segments, with indications of 2 [1–2] small pseudo-articulations in 3rd segment; total length 253–290 [265–275] µm. Clypeolabral shield about 120–165 [165] µm long. Spiracles: width of peritremes 50–60 µm. Legs well developed; tibio-tarsal articulation present but size of sclerosis rather variable, rarely large; tarsal digitules 45–57 [50] µm long; claw digitules similar, each 27–33 [30] µm long; each claw with an almost imperceptible denticle; dimensions of metathoracic legs (µm): coxa 120–128 [125]; trochanter plus femur 128–178 [128]; tibia 84–108 [100]; tarsus 72–80 [80–82], and claw 17–26 [21].

Discussion. The single type specimen of C. singularis was too poor to make a detailed description from but it was clearly morphologically indistinguishable from C. hololeucus . C. hololeucus is therefore here synonymised with C. singularis .

The above description is very similar to that of De Lotto (1969a) for C. hololeucus except that the shape of the dorsal setae of the Democratic Republic of the Congo specimens was rather more variable, most being more or less cylindrical rather than spiniform, and the stigmatic setae along the margins were more or less double throughout. De Lotto (1969a) considered C. hololeucus to be close to C. japonicus Green but the latter species has ventral tubular ducts submarginally and multilocular disc-pores extending anteriorly into the prothorax ( Pellizzari & Camporese, 1994) which suggests that the relationship may not be that close.

Ceroplastes singularis differs from most other species in the C. rusci -group in having: (i) stigmatic setae around of the entire margin (restricted to near stigmatic clefts on C. rusci and related species, never forming a complete band anteriorly on head); and (ii) ventral tubular ducts absent (otherwise only totally absent on C. balachowskyi (described as new above), C. galeatus and C. ghesquierei (described as new above). See under these species for discussion of their differences. C. rufus also has stigmatic setae extending around most of the margin but the stigmatic setae are all rather sharply pointed on C. singularis rather than roundly conical, as on C. rufus .

C. singularis is now known from Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, on Elaeis guineensis (Palmae), Musanga cecropioides (Cecropiaceae) and Psidium guajava (Myrtaceae) .