Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5618 No. 4: 4 Apr. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-04-04
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5618.4.6
Page range: 571-583
Abstract views: 94
PDF downloaded: 4

First reports of the soft scale insect genera Leptopulvinaria Kanda and Pulvinarisca Borchsenius (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) from India, with descriptions of two new species and identification keys

Division of Germplasm Collection and Characterization; National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources; Post Bag No. 2491; H.A. Farm post; Bellary Road; Bangalore 560 024; Karnataka; India.
Zoological Survey of India; Prani Vigyan Bhawan; Block M; New Alipore; Kolkata; West Bengal 700053; India.
Division of Germplasm Collection and Characterization; National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources; Post Bag No. 2491; H.A. Farm post; Bellary Road; Bangalore 560 024; Karnataka; India.
Division of Germplasm Collection and Characterization; National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources; Post Bag No. 2491; H.A. Farm post; Bellary Road; Bangalore 560 024; Karnataka; India.
Hemiptera soft scale insect identification key Sternorrhyncha silk cotton litchi jamun arecanut Formicidae Encyrtidae Aphelinidae

Abstract

Two genera of soft scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae), Leptopulvinaria Kanda and Pulvinarisca Borchsenius are reported from India for the first time, each with a new species, namely Leptopulvinaria harishi Joshi, sp. nov. and Pulvinarisca greeni Joshi & Dubey, sp. nov., which are described and illustrated. The new species of Leptopulvinaria is most similar morphologically to L. sapinda He, Ha & Wu, while the new species of Pulvinarisca is morphologically close to P. serpentina (Balachowsky). Keys are provided to the adult females of all the species in both genera. An ant, Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) was found attending both the scale insects. Two hymenopterous parasitoids, Encyrtus noyesi Singh (Encyrtidae) and Coccophagus sudhiri Hayat (Aphelinidae) were recorded from L. harishi.

 

References

  1. Balachowsky, A.S. (1929) Contribution à l’étude des coccides de l’Afrique Mineure (6e note). Faune du Hoggar. Annales de la Société entomologique de France, 98, 301‒322. https://doi.org/10.1080/21686351.1929.12280111
  2. Borchsenius, N.S. (1953) New genera and species of scale insects of the family Coccidae (Homoptera, Coccoidea). Entomologicheskoe Obozrenye, 33, 281‒290.
  3. De Lotto, G. (1954) Three apparently new coccids (Homopt.: Coccidae) from Eritrea. Journal of the Entomological Society of southern Africa, 17, 213‒218.
  4. Hayat, M. (1993) The malthusi-group of Coccophagus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), with descriptions of three new species from India. Oriental Insects, 27, 175‒184. https://doi.org/10.1080/00305316.1993.10432269
  5. He, X.Y., Han, Y.Y. & Wu, S.A. (2018) A new species of Leptopulvinaria Kanda from China, with a key to species (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Coccidae). ZooKeys, 781, 59–66. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.781.25713
  6. Henderson, R.C. & Hodgson, C.J. (2005) Two new species of Umbonichiton (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea: Coccidae) from New Zealand. Zootaxa, 854: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.854.1.1
  7. Hodgson, C.J. (1967) Some Pulvinaria species (Homoptera: Coccidae) of the Ethiopian region. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 30, 198‒211.
  8. Hodgson, C.J. (1968) Further notes on the genus Pulvinaria Targ. (Homoptera: Coccoidea) from the Ethiopian region. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 31, 141–174.
  9. Hodgson, C.J. (1994) The scale insect family Coccidae: an identification manual to genera. CAB International, Wallingford, 639 pp. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/89.1.155
  10. García Morales, M., Denno, B.D., Miller, D.R., Miller, G.L., Ben-Dov, Y. & Hardy, N.B. (2016) ScaleNet: a literature-based model of scale insect biology and systematics. Database. Available at: http://scalenet.info (accessed 28 October 2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bav118
  11. Kanda, S. (1960) Descriptions of the Coccidae from Japan (Homoptera). Kontyu, 28, 116‒123.
  12. Laing, F. (1925) Descriptions of some new genera and species of Coccidae. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 16, 51‒66. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485300056157
  13. Newstead, R. 1908. On the structural characters of three species of Coccidae affecting cocoa, rubber, and other plants in Western Africa. Journal of Economic Biology, 2, 149‒157.
  14. Newstead, R. (1913) Notes on scale-insects (Coccidae) - Part I. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 4, 67‒81. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485300016965
  15. Singh, S. (1997) Description of a new and notes on some other species of Encyrtus (Hymenoptera: Ecyrtidae) parasitising scale insects in Assam, India. Oriental Insects, 31, 419‒422. https://doi.org/10.1080/00305316.1997.10433761
  16. Tanaka, H. & Amano, H. (2008) Taxonomic study of the genus Leptopulvinaria Kanda (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae), with a description of a new species. Entomological Science, 11 (2), 221‒229. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-8298.2008.00259.x

How to Cite

Joshi, S., Dubey, A.K., Gupta, A. & Sushil, S.N. (2025) First reports of the soft scale insect genera Leptopulvinaria Kanda and Pulvinarisca Borchsenius (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) from India, with descriptions of two new species and identification keys. Zootaxa, 5618 (4), 571–583. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5618.4.6