Allokermes galliformis
Creators: name: Hodgson, Chris
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Kermesidae
Allokermes
Allokermes galliformis

description: Allokermes galliformis (Riley) (Fig. 62)
Kermes galliformis Riley 1881, 482. Type data: USA, Missouri, Iron Mountain, on Quercus palustris, by Warder. Syntypes, female. Type depository: USNM.
Kermes waldeni King 1914, 150 –151. Type data: USA, Connecticut, Portland, on Quercus sp., 12/08/1913, by B.H. Walden. Syntypes, female. Type depository: USNM. Junior synonym, Bullington & Kosztarab, 1985.
Kermes emoryi Ferris 1955, 197 –198. Type data: USA, Arizona, near Prescott, on Quercus emoryi. Syntypes, female. Type depository: The Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, California, USA. Junior synonym, Bullington & Kosztarab 1985.
Kermococcus galliformis (Riley); Kawai 1972, 4. Change of combination.
Allokermes galliformis (Riley); Bullington & Kosztarab 1985, 45. Change of combination.
Material examined. USA, Florida, Mataee Co., Fort De Soto National Memorial, on Quercus viginiana (Fagaceae), 10.i.1977, Avas Hamon (USNM): 2/4 ad ♂♂ (fair-good).
Described from all 4 specimens.
Mounted material: of moderate to small size, total body length 1.20–1.23 mm; antennae slightly more than half body length; body with few setae, fleshy setae (fs) few and sometimes hard to separate from hs; length of fs on antennae about twice width of flagellate antennal segments. Wings longer than total body length.
Head: appearing roundly triangular in dorsal view; width across genae 200–215 µm. Median crest (mc) poorly demarcated and not apparently reticulated. Preoccipital ridge (por) distinct and sclerotised, bifurcated laterally, posterior ridges slightly longer than anterior ridges; with (on each side) 4–6 fs + 6 hs dorsal head setae (dhs); pores absent. Mid-cranial ridge: dorsal ridge (dmcr) possibly absent; ventral ridge (vmcr) distinct and short, extending only about half-way to preocular ridge; lateral arms (lmcr) well developed; area ventral/posterior to vmcr not reticulated, broadest posteriorly, with 5–7 fs + 3–5 hs ventral mid-cranial ridge setae (vmcrs) on each side. Genae (g) not reticulated and without genal setae (gs). Eyes: with five pairs of round simple eyes: a large dorsal pair (dse) placed rather laterally, each 45–50 µm wide; 3 pairs of small lateral eyes, each 28–33 µm wide, in a line extending ventrally to larger ventral eyes (vse), each 45–47 µm wide. Ocelli (o) obvious; just about touching postocular ridge (pocr) posteriorly. Ocular sclerite (ocs) sclerotised and indistinctly polygonally reticulated. Preocular ridge (procr) very short dorsally, but extending ventrally to just mesad of each ventral eye. Postocular ridge (pocr) strongly developed, extending dorsally past posterior margin of each dorsal eye, not nearly reaching preoccipital ridge (por) medially. Dorsal ocular setae (docs) absent. Ventral head setae (vhs): none anterior to ventral eyes but with 2 or 3 setae between ventral eyes. Preoral ridge (pror) quite well developed. Cranial apophysis (ca) quite short and trifid but occasionally appearing bifid; length 33–35 µm.
Antennae: 10-segmented and filiform; 725–750 µm long (ratio of total body length to antennal length 1:0.6). Scape (scp): 30–33 µm long, 46 µm wide, with 3 hs. Pedicel (pdc): length 58–63 µm, width 33–35 µm; with a few concentric ridges across whole width of segment; with 12 or 13 fs + 2–4 hs. Segments III–X all 20–28 µm wide: fs 35–50 µm long; lengths of segments (µm): III 138–142; IV 105–111; V 90–92; VI 90–92; VII 63–75; VIII 54–60 and IX 40–55; approximate number of setae per segment: III–VI each with 16–19 fs + 1 or 2 hs; VII 11–15 fs + 0 or 1 hs; VIII 10 or 11 fs, 0 or 1 hs + 1 bristle (ab); IX 12–14 fs, 0 or 1 hs + 1 ab. Segment X elongate oval, length 45–52 μm; not constricted apically; with 4 capitate setae (caps), 4–8 fs, 0 hs, 3 large + probably 2 small ab + 1 sensilla basiconica (sb) near apex.
Thorax. Prothorax: pronotal ridge (prnr) well-developed but probably not fused dorsally; with a well-developed, striated, lateral pronotal sclerite (prn), without lateral pronotal (lpns) setae. Medial pronotal and post-tergital setae apparently absent. Post-tergites not detected. Sternum with a narrow transverse ridge, each with an apophysis; median ridge quite long and narrow, with 1 fs prosternal setae (stn 1 s) on each side. Anteprosternal (astn 1 s) and antemesospiracular setae (am 2 s) absent.
Mesothorax: prescutum (prsc) wider than long, 78–87 µm long; 149–158 µm wide; sclerotised but not reticulated; with 1–4 pairs of small setae on outer margins; prescutal ridges (pscr) and prescutal suture (pscs) well developed. Scutum (sct): median membranous area quite large and quadrate, 70–75 µm long, 153–158 µm wide, with sclerotised ridges along lateral margins, without setae; lateral margins of scutum sclerotised but not apparently reticulated; with 1 scutal seta (scts) on each side laterad to membranous area; prealare ridge (prar) quite well developed. Scutellum (scl) 168–183 µm wide and 78–83 µm long; with an inverted U-shaped scutellar ridge (sclr); probably not tubular but with a large foramen; with 1 pair of small setae (scls) but no small pores. Basisternum (stn 2) 250–280 µm wide, 135–165 µm long; without any signs of a median ridge (mdr), but bounded anteriorly by a strong marginal ridge (mr) and posteriorly by strong precoxal ridges (pcr 2); basisternal setae (stn 2 s) absent; lateropleurite (lpl) quite broad, with a strong extension from marginal ridge along anterior margin; furca (f) well developed, narrow-waisted, arms very divergent and extending just anterior to point where marginal and precoxal ridges meet. Mesopostnotum (pn 2) and postnotal apophysis (pna) well developed. Area bounded anteriorly by scutellum and laterally and posteriorly by mesopostnotum membranous. Mesepisternum (eps 2) not reticulated; subepisternal ridge (ser) long and well developed. Postalare (pa) with radial ridges dorsally near posterior notal wing process; without postalare setae (pas). Mesothoracic spiracle (sp 2): width of peritreme 32–35 µm. Postmesospiracular setae (pm 2 s) absent. Tegula (teg) present, with 3 or 4 hs tegular setae (tegs) on each side.
Metathorax: metatergal setae (mts) and dorsospiracular setae (dss) absent. Metapostnotal sclerite indistinct. Dorsal part of metapleural ridge (plr 3) well developed, with an indistinct suspensorial sclerite (ss). Ventral part of metapleural ridge well developed; precoxal ridge (pcr 3) broad and sclerotised but not apparently fused with metapleural ridge; metepisternum (eps 3) membranous, with 0–4 hs postmetaspiracular setae (eps 3 s) on either side near precoxal ridge. Metepimeron (epm 3) sclerotised, but without setae. Antemetaspiracular setae (am 3 s) absent. Metathoracic spiracle (sp 3): width of peritreme 30–33 µm. Metasternum (stn 3) lightly sclerotised, with distinct metasternal apophyses (st 3 a); with 9–17 fs anterior metasternal setae (amss) and 7–15 fs posterior metasternal setae (pmss).
Wings: hyaline, quite broad, 1250–1325 µm long and 550–565 µm wide (ratio of length to width 1:0.43; ratio of total body length to wing length 1:1.06); alar lobe (al) distinct; without alar setae (als). Hamulohalteres each 100–105 µm long, 22–25 µm wide; each with a single hooked hamulus, 60–64 µm long.
Legs: prothoracic legs perhaps marginally longest. Coxae (cx): I 90–100; II 90–95; III 83–85 µm long; coxa
III with 9–12 fs + 6–8 hs. Trochanter (tr) + femur (fm): I 230–245; II 218–222; III 225–228 µm long; trochanter III with about 6 fs + 2 or 3 hs; long trochanter seta undifferentiated but seta in this position about 40 µm long; femur III with 26–33 fs + 19–21 hs. Tibia (ti): I 230–253; II 200–230; III 235–245 µm; tibia III with 41–45 fs + 17–20 hs but many becoming spur-like on distal third; with 2 apical spurs (tibs), length 21–33 µm. Tarsi (ta): I 102–108; II 90–110; III 97–100 µm long (ratio of length of tibia III to tarsus III 1:0.41); tarsus III with 10–19 fs + 5–10 hs but many setae spur-like; tarsal spurs not differentiated; tarsal campaniform pore present; tarsal digitules (tdt) slightly shorter than claw. Claws (c) robust, distinctly longer than width of tarsi (16–18 µm), slightly curved, with a distinct small denticle at apex; length: III 26–28 µm; claw digitules (cdt) slightly longer than claw, capitate and very thin.
Abdomen: segments I–VII: tergites (at) and sternites (as) not apparently sclerotised. Caudal extension (ce) of segment VII absent. Dorsal abdominal setae (ads): segments I–VII each with 1 pair hs; ventral abdominal setae (avs) (totals): II 6–16 fs +4 or 5 hs; III–V each with 7–14 fs + 4 or 5 hs; VI & VII each with 3–7 fs + 2 or 4 hs. Pleural setae: dorsopleural setae (dps) (on each side): I–VI each with 2–4 fs + 1 hs; V–VII each with 4 fs + 1 hs; ventropleural setae (vps) I 0 or 1 hs; III–VII each with 1 fs + 1 hs.
Segment VIII: sternite (as) clearly sclerotised; tergite apparently unsclerotised; latter with 2 pairs of long hs dorsal abdominal setae; sternite with 2–5 hs ventral abdominal setae (avs); caudal extensions (ce) rounded, each with 1 very long seta, 75–80 µm long + 2 short hs dorsal pleural setae + 1 or 2 hs ventral pleural setae. Glandular pouches (gp) present, deep, pores restricted to within each pouch; glandular pouch setae each 128–133 µm long.
Genital segments: segment IX sclerotised, broad, 95–100 µm wide, 75–80 µm long; anal opening present medially on anterior border; with 2 or 3 hs on postero-dorsal surface and about 7 ventrally. Style quite broad anteriorly (40–50 µm wide), tapering to a blunt point; sclerotised; length from base of style 85–90 µm long; total length of penial sheath 160–165 µm (ratio of total body length to length of penial sheath 1:0.13); style with a few very short setae (pss) anteriorly and a few small sensilla (psp) near apex. Aedeagus (aed) elongate, narrowing to a blunt point, length about 100 µm; basal rod (bra) length about 52 µm.
Comment. Recently, Krutil et al. (2019) also redescribed the adult male of A. galliformis. However, their interpretation of the structure is rather different to that given above. In particular, their description of the thorax makes no mention of the membranous area medially on the dorsum of the scutum (even though it is clearly shown in their Fig.10!), a particularly important feature. There are a number of other significant misinterpretations of the structure of other parts of the thorax as well. In addition, they also considered that the dorsal and ventral simple eyes had a granular structure but their photomicrograph of a dorsal simple eyes (their Fig. 6) clearly shows that the granulations are also present on structures next to the simple eye, suggesting that the granulations are an aberration introduced during mounting. However, their photomicrographs of the head (their Figs 3-5) clearly suggest that polygonal reticulation might be more widespread than noted here, with reticulation present on the dorsal mid-cranial ridge and also on the genae.
description: Published as part of Hodgson, Chris, 2020, A review of neococcid scale insects (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccomorpha) based on the morphology of the adult males, pp. 1-264 in Zootaxa 4765 (1) on pages 154-157, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4765.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3774174