Neotachardiella ourinhensis, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Kondo, Takumasa
name: Silva, Vitor Cezar Pacheco Da
name: Júnior, Alberto Luiz Marsaro
name: Takahashi, Satomi Moriyama
name: Peronti, Ana Lúcia Benfatti Gonzalez
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Kerriidae
Neotachardiella
Neotachardiella ourinhensis

description: Neotachardiella ourinhensis (Hempel), comb. nov.
(Figs 2A and 3)
Tachardiella ourinhensis Hempel, 1937: 8.
Austrotachardiella ourinhensis (Hempel); Varshney 2020: 3. Change of combination.
Proposed common names. Español: Insecto laca de Ourinhos; Portuguese: Cochonilha-laca-de-Ourinhos; English: Ourinhos lac insect.
Material studied. Hempel (1937), in the original description of Tachardiella ourinhensis, provided measurements probably based on slide-mounted specimens. However, he did not specify the source material. While dry type material of T. ourinhensis is available at both IBSP and MZSP, no original slide-mounted specimens from Hempelʼs study could be located. Consequently, for this study, new slide mounts were prepared from the available dry material. The slides studied by Hempel (1937) are presumed lost. To preserve stability of nomenclature for this species, a lectotype was designated from the newly slide-mounted syntypes by Kondo, Peronti and Pacheco da Silva. Lectotype: Adult female, here designated by Kondo, Peronti and Pacheco da Silva, slide-mounted from dry material and labelled as follows: “ KERRIIDAE / Tachardiella ourinhensis / Hempel / ex Myrtaceae cultivada / BRASIL: São Paulo / Ourinhos / 27-03-1936, No. 711 / Coll. Adolph Hempel ” 1(1: 1 adult female) (IBSP Type # 711).
Paralectotypes: “ KERRIIDAE / Tachardiella ourinhensis / Hempel / Slide-mounted from / TYPE materialMZSP / ex Myrtaceae shrub twig / BRAZIL: São Paulo / Cachoeira and Ypiranga / Date: Not given / Coll. Adolf Hempel ”), 3(5: 5 adult females) (IBSP); “ KERRIIDAE / Tachardiella ourinhensis / Hempel / Slide-mounted from / TYPE material-MZSP / ex Myrtaceae shrub twig / BRAZIL: São Paulo / Cachoeira and Ypiranga / Date: Not given / Coll. Adolf Hempel ”), 11 (14: 14 adult females) (MZSP).
Adult female
Unmounted material (Fig. 2A). Regarding the live appearance, the original description written in Portuguese by Hempel (1937) translates as follows: “The adult female resin is light yellowish green, shiny, sticky, somewhat globular, the resin is composed of many individuals together. Individual insects about 4 mm in diameter and 3 mm in height”. However, the type specimens at the Instituto Biológico de São Paulo are amorphous and dark (Fig. 2A), suggesting that the globular resinous test of this species may deteriorate over time.
Slide-mounted specimens (Fig. 3) (20 specimens in fairly good condition). Body of adult female elongate oval to broadly pyriform, often with a constriction at level of anterior stigmatic areas; body 1.8–2.9 (lectotype 2.9) mm long, 1.4–3.2 (lectotype 2.7) mm wide.
Dorsum. Derm membranous. Dorsal setae and macroducts absent. Microducts scarce, scattered; diameter of duct rim 2.0 µm. Spermatoid ducts each about 6.0 µm wide at widest point, hard to detect, scattered throughout dorsum. Brachia short and membranous, each 25–100 µm long. Brachial plates oval to broadly oval, each 155–185 [187] µm long, 145–170 [157] µm wide; brachial crater opening located towards body margin, central, with 2 or 3 (usually 3) setae on anterior margin and 2 or 3 (usually 2) setae on posterior margin (high magnification needed to detect); brachial crater: pore area width 8−13, pore area length 17−21 (pores very difficult to count due to sclerotization). Brachial pores each 5–6 µm wide, loculi not visible in most pores, probably quinquelocular. Ratio of length of brachial plate to length of first marginal duct cluster (mdc-i) 1.4–1.7 (1.5): 1. Anterior spiracles situated on dorsum, large, each surrounded by a spiracular sclerotization, 155−175 µm long, 130−150 µm wide; width of anterior spiracular peritreme 37.5–42.5 µm; spiracular pores around each anterior spiracle of similar structure to brachial pores, each pore 4–5 µm wide with loculi usually not visible; numerous (ca. 75–120 pores). Anal tubercle tapering, highly sclerotized, 235–325 [221] µm long; pre-anal plate 100–170 µm long, 175–300 µm wide; supra-anal plate 125–195 µm long, 200–255 µm wide; pre-anal and supra-anal plates without any setae observed. Dorsal spine well developed, length 110–153 [110] µm, width at base 62.5–107.5 [80] µm; base of dorsal spine with margin undulate. Dorsal spine duct of dendritic type. Anal fringe entire, with 8 lobes, the 6 innermost lobes bifurcate, each 75–103 [42] µm long; each lobe on lateral margins spiniform and shorter, each 45–63 µm long. Anal ring 120–130 [276] µm wide, divided into 4 separate sections, bearing a total of 10 setae, each seta 150–210 [230] µm long, tips of setae surpassing anal fringe. Eyespots absent.
Venter. Derm membranous; mid-areas of venter posterior to mouthparts with microtrichia. Antennae small, each 70–103 [93] µm long, 35–45 [51] μm wide at base, with segmentation poorly defined, about 3 (more rarely apparently 4) segmented; each segment membranous; setae present on terminal antennal segment, with about 3 fleshy setae, each 7.5–22.5 µm long, and 2 small slender setae, each 5.0–7.5 µm long. Clypeolabral shield 120–165 µm long, 105–125 µm wide. Labium 1 segmented, 52.5–65.0 µm long, 72.5–83.0 µm wide; bearing 4 pairs of setae. Legs each reduced to a remnant claw; each claw 13–32 µm long, prothoracic claw remnant smallest, sometimes absent or not detected; metathoracic claw remnant largest. Canella composed of a linear group of 28–41 (36) pores extending from each dorsal spiracle towards mouthparts; canellar pores each 3.5–5.5 µm wide, loculi on pores very hard to detect, but each pore with about 5 loculi (only visible under 100x objective). Ventral setae slender, each 7.0–11.0 µm long, present in 2 longitudinal rows on mid-areas of abdomen, about 1 pair present anterior to each meso- and metathoracic leg, and present submarginally around marginal duct clusters, often with some setae present inside marginal duct clusters. Posterior spiracles much smaller than anterior spiracles, each with spiracular peritreme 18–31 µm wide; with 6–12 (11) spiracular pores present alongside spiracle, each pore quinquelocular, 4.0–5.0 µm wide. Marginal duct clusters (mdc) each subcircular to oval, number and distribution as for genus; length and width of each marginal duct cluster (in µm), the number of macroducts in each, and the number of spermatoid ducts in each submarginal group as follows: mdc-i: 107–128 long, 80–95 wide, with 5–7 macroducts and 15–21 spermatoid ducts; mdc-ii: 107–140 long, 90–105 wide, with 6–8 macroducts and 12–25 spermatoid ducts; mdc-iii: 127–170 long, 95–120 wide, with 5–8 macroducts and 15–30 spermatoid ducts; mdc-iv: 140–160 long, 100–113 wide, with 4–9 macroducts and 12–30 spermatoid ducts; mdc-v: 142–180 long, 105–130 wide, with 5–9 macroducts and 19–30 spermatoid ducts; mdc-vi: 120–135 long, 92–108 wide, with 6–9 macroducts and 15–26 spermatoid ducts; rim of each macroduct 5.0−6.0 µm wide. Spermatoid ducts similar in size and shape to those on dorsum, scattered, densely packed in each mdc. Ventral duct clusters subcircular to elongate, composed of large-sized microducts (lsm), each 3.0−4.0 µm wide; clusters totaling 4 pairs: with 2 pairs on mid-areas of head, and each side with 1 submedially on area lateral to mdc-iii, and 1 submedially on area lateral to mdc-v; number of large-sized microducts in each ventral duct cluster as follows: vdc-1, 15–41; vdc-2, 26–39; vdc-3, 40–57; and vdc-4, 44–58; vdc-4 represented as an elongate cluster which is often constricted or subdivided into 2 parts. Microducts present, similar to those on dorsum, each with rim about 2.0 µm wide, present marginally and submarginally on venter. Perivulvar pores and perivulvar pore clusters absent.
Morphological variation. Hempel (1937) reported 4–9 macroducts [as poros maiores] per marginal duct cluster; however, we counted mostly 6 or 7 macroducts, but with as few as 4 and as many as 9 macroducts in each marginal duct cluster. Hempel (1937: 8) also said (translated from Portuguese): “..between the brachial plates [as maços ovaes = ovoid bundles] there are 4 ventral duct clusters [as grupos de pequenas glandulas conicas = groups of small conical glands], each group having 27–35 large-sized microducts [as glandulas = glands]”, whereas we counted 34–50 in each vdc. Furthermore, Hempel reported 40–60 pores [as glandulas = glands] in each canella but we only counted 28–41 pores.
Host plants. Myrtaceae.
Distribution. Neotropical realm: Brazil.
Notes. In his updated catalogue and bibliography of lac insects of the World, Varshney (2020) transferred T. ourinhensis to Austrotachardiella without any explanation, only citing the observations by Matile-Ferrero & Couturier (1993), who pointed out that T. ourihensis has some affinities with Austrotachardiella sexcordata Matile-Ferrero, as they share Myrtaceae as hosts. Kondo & Gullan (2011) included a diagnosis of T. ourinhensis in their review of the genus Tachardiella, based on a translation of Hempel’s (1937) original description, but they did not study any specimens. However, Kondo & Gullan (2011) believed T. ourinhensis to be a species of Tachardiella because Hempel (1937) described it as having three to four setae at the apex of the antenna; the original description also suggested that the marginal duct clusters were duplex. According to the keys to lac insect genera given by Kondo & Gullan (2011), Tachardiella has 3–8 setae on the last antennal segment and duplex-type marginal duct clusters, and Austrotachardiella has 2 setae on the last antennal segment and triplex-type marginal duct clusters. The marginal duct clusters in Neotachardiella gen. nov. are similar to the duplex type, with macroducts and spermatoid ducts present in a sclerotized plate.
description: Published as part of Kondo, Takumasa, Silva, Vitor Cezar Pacheco Da, Júnior, Alberto Luiz Marsaro, Takahashi, Satomi Moriyama & Peronti, Ana Lúcia Benfatti Gonzalez, 2025, Redescription of Tachardiella ourinhensis Hempel, 1937 (Hemiptera: Kerriidae) and its transfer to Neotachardiella gen. nov., with descriptions of two new species of Neotachardiella on Myrtaceae from Brazil and Uruguay, pp. 269-286 in Zootaxa 5588 (2) on pages 273-276, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5588.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/14896458