The Scale Insects Of Iran (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) Part 3 The Soft Scales (Coccidae) And Other Families Author Moghaddam, Masumeh Department of Insect Taxonomy Research, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organisation, Tehran, Iran. Author Watson, Gillian W. 0000-0001-9914-0094 Department of Insect Taxonomy Research, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organisation, Tehran, Iran. & Science: Research, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW 7 5 BD, U. K. gillian. watson @ nhm. ac. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 9914 - 0094 * Corresponding author. moghadam @ iripp. ir; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 0908 - 838 X & Department of Insect Taxonomy Research, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organisation, Tehran, Iran. gillian.watson@nhm.ac.uk text Zootaxa 2024 2024-11-29 5542 1 1 202 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5542.1.1 journal article 306474 10.11646/zootaxa.5542.1.1 b349e73d-c49e-418c-81f7-c5d32e136362 1175-5334 14385386 2DB3A5B7-4292-4CD9-B6D8-FA97EB48DD16 Genus ERICERUS Guérin-Méneville Coccus (Ericerus) Guérin-Méneville, 1858 : lxvii. Type species: Coccus ceriferus Fabricius (a misidentification of Coccus pela Chavannes ) by monotypy. Pela Targioni Tozzetti, 1866: 140 . Type species: Pela cerifera Targioni Tozzetti (= an unjustified replacement name for Coccus pela Chavannes ); junior synonym discovered by Fernald 1903: 146 . Diagnostic characters of the adult female: Live adult female broadly oval to circular, becoming roughly hemispherical with age. Slide-mounted, body with shallow stigmatic clefts; characterized by having the following combination of characters: (i) up to 6 stigmatic spines in each stigmatic cleft, and (ii) numerous dorsal tubular ducts except in the area covered by preopercular pores. Pregenital disc-pores each with 10 loculi, present on all abdominal and thoracic segments, also lateral to antennal bases. Spiracular disc-pores each with 5 loculi, present in band between each spiracle and margin. Preopercular pores present in a scattered group anterior to anal plates, extending onto thorax. Dorsal tubular ducts numerous, except in area containing preopercular pores. Anal cleft of moderate depth. Legs well developed, each without a tibio-tarsal articulatory sclerosis; claw digitules both slender. Antennae usually each with 6 or 7 segments. Comments: Worldwide, two species are included in Ericerus Guérin-Méneville ( García Morales et al . 2016 ); E. farsicus Moghaddam & Faghih is known from Iran ( Moghaddam & Faghih 2019 ).