A taxonomic revision of the Kermesidae (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) in Israel, with a description of a new species
Author
Spodek, Malkie
Author
Ben-Dov, Yair
text
Zootaxa
2014
3781
1
1
99
journal article
36881
10.11646/zootaxa.3781.1.1
b6bac6d0-db3d-4c14-b289-ef0bb7184f3a
1175-5326
285772
D0E3A02D-340D-423F-9ADB-1089FB89C7EB
Kermesidae
Signoret, 1875
Introduction.
The scale insect family
Kermesidae
is composed of about one hundred species in ten genera (Ben- Dov
et al
., 2013). The family placement of
Kermesidae
has changed throughout the years and have been placed in Kermitidae (
Maskell, 1884
),
Kermidae (
Ferris, 1937
)
, Kerminae (
Balachowsky, 1948
) and Kermococcidae (
Balachowsky, 1930
). The family has also been combined with the eriococcids (
Ferris, 1957
), pseudococcids (
Balachowsky, 1942
) and dactylopiids + eriococcids + micrococcids + beesoniids (
Hoy, 1963
).
Miller
et al
. (2005)
noted several characters that separated the genera of
Kermesidae
based on adult female morphology, including: (i) anal ring with or without pores; (ii) pores of two
types
, those with five loculi and those with eight to ten loculi; (iii) tubular ducts arranged in a submarginal band on venter; (iv) absence of microtubular ducts; (v) presence of simple disk pores, and (vi) legs variously reduced with indistinct segmentation. Several exceptions to this diagnosis occur and it is very likely that some of the genera are incorrectly placed within the
Kermesidae
(authors' observations;
Miller
et al
., 2005
).