A revision of the mealybug genus Mirococcopsis Borchsenius (Homoptera: Coccinea: Pseudococcidae) based on the structure of the adult females
Author
Gavrilov, Ilya A.
text
Zootaxa
2007
1586
1
23
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.178470
8a5535e6-d596-4020-8045-8d1aa14b2002
1175-5326
178470
MIROCOCCOPSIS
Borchsenius, 1948
Mirococcopsis
Borchsenius, 1948
: 582
; 1949: 168.
Eumirococcus
Ter-Grigorian, 1964a
: 858
,
syn. n.
Type
species—
Mirococcopsis rubida
Borchsenius, 1948
, by original designation.
Generic diagnosis
. Body rounded, broadly oval or elongate. Anal lobes poorly developed. Antennae usually each with 6 segments, in some species with 7 or 8 segments. Legs normally developed, small compared with size of body; claw without a denticle. Anal ring simplified, with 6 setae and usually with few cells and microspines. Multilocular and trilocular pores present. Tubular ducts of simple structure or with small collars on some species. Cerarii often absent entirely but sometimes C18 with 1-3 flagellate setae and several trilocular pores.
Taxonomic notes
. In addition to the species described below, the following have been included in
Mirococcopsis
at some time: (i)
M. elongata
Borchsenius, 1948
—this was placed in
Mirococcopsis
erroneously because this species has a claw denticle and probably should be transferred to the genus
Mirococcus
Borchsenius, 1947
; (ii)
M. stipae
Borchsenius, 1949
, which has very characteristic oral collar tubular ducts (with the collar placed in the middle part of the duct) and this species is here transferred to the genus
Volvicoccus
Goux, 1945
as previously suggested by
Kozar (1981)
and Matile
Ferrero (1983)
:
V. stipae
(Borchsenius)
,
comb. n.
;
(iii)
M. salina
Matesova, 1982
, which has been transferred to the genus
Nudicauda
Gavrilov, 2006
(
Gavrilov, 2006
)
; and (iv)
M. artomisiphilis
Tang, 1988
(in
Tang & Li, 1988
), which has been shown to be a junior synonym of
Nudicauda orientalis
(
Borchsenius, 1949
) (
Gavrilov, 2006
)
.
Unfortunately, I have not seen specimens of
M. chinensis
Tang, 1992
, but the figure of
Tang (1992)
suggests that this species is a junior synonym of the very polymorphous
M. subterraneus
(Newstead)
,
comb. n.
According to the original description, the monotype genus
Eumirococcus
Ter-Grigorian, 1964
a, is characterized by the presence of quinquelocular disc pores. However, a study of the
lectotype
of
Eumirococcus borchsenii
Ter-Grigorian, 1964
a, showed that these “quinquelocular disc pores” are in reality simple discoidal pores, typical of
Mirococcopsis
and other genera of mealybugs.
Eumirococcus
Ter-Grigorian
is therefore here considered a synonym of
Mirococcopsis
Borchsenius
,
syn. nov
.
Males are unknown for species of
Mirococcopsis
.
The only specially studied species,
M. subterranea
, is probably thelytokous because, in all studied females (specimens collected in Voronezh Province of
Russia
), the embryos with heterochromatinization of the paternal set of chromosomes (a character of male embryos in the Lecanoid genetic system) were absent, and the spermatozoa were absent in the spermathecae (
Gavrilov, 2007, and unpublished
). A karyological study of this species showed 2n=10 (Fig. 10B).
M. subterranea
, and also the
type
species of
Mirococcopsis
,
M. rubida
,
are ovoviviparous; all stages of embryonic development take place within the female body.