Hemilecanium Newstead 1906
Creators: name: Hodgson, Chris
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Coccidae
Hemilecanium

description: <i>Hemilecanium</i> Newstead urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author: 2DEA755F-A46A-4203-B3B8-893324D22FAF urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub: 7FB67D8F-AAA7-427B-AF54-53D64A52B87A The genus <i>Hemilecanium</i> was introduced by Newstead (1908) to take <i>H. theobromae</i>, collected off cacao in Cameroon. Prior to 2005, <i>Hemilecanium</i> contained 4 species: <i>H. coriaceum</i> Hall, <i>H. imbricans</i> (Green), <i>H. recurvatum</i> Newstead and the type species. Since then however, there have been major changes in the species composition of <i>Hemilecanium,</i> most notably when Kondo and Hardy recently (2008) synonymised <i>Etiennea</i> Matile-Ferrero (type species <i>E. villiersi</i> Matile-Ferrero) with <i>Hemilecanium</i>, based on a comparative morphological study of the adult females, adult males and 1 st- instar nymphs of 4 species of <i>Hemilecanium</i> and 6 species of <i>Etiennea</i>. The study also included a phylogenetic analysis based on adult female and 1 st- instar nymphal characters. These changes brought the total number of species in <i>Hemilecanium</i> to 26. Earlier, Hodgson (1994) had drawn attention to the morphological similarities of <i>Etiennea</i> and <i>Hemilecanium</i> (both genera having dorsal tubular ducts with funnel-like apertures and both with two centres of sclerotisation on the dorsum) but had considered that they could be easily separated due to the presence of cribriform plates on <i>Hemilecanium</i> (absent on <i>Etiennea</i> species). However, Kondo and Williams (2005) showed that 4 cribriform plates were present on the dorsum of the 1 st- instar nymphs of several <i>Hemilecanium</i> species so that the 1 st- instar nymphs of <i>E. villiersi</i> and <i>H. theobromae</i> were very similar. Despite these changes, the species within the new concept of <i>Hemilecanium</i> can be divided into two groups based on the structure of the 1 st- instar nymphs. These are referred to as the <i>petasus</i> and <i>thoebromae</i> groups by Kondo and Hardy (2008). The 1 st- instar nymphs are only known for nine of the species now included in <i>Hemilecanium</i> but these can be separated as follows: the <i>petasus</i> group is diagnosed by the presence of: (i) the dorsum without clusters of 4-locular pores; (ii) each spiracular pore band with 2-4 spiracular disc-pores; (iii) each femur with a very long seta near apex (only on the prothoracic leg of <i>H. uesatoi</i>), and (iv) each stigmatic cleft with 3 well-developed stigmatic spines. The <i>petasus</i> group includes <i>H. ferox</i> (Newstead), <i>H. montricardiae</i> (Newstead), <i>H. multituberculatum</i> (Hodgson), <i>H. petasus</i> (Hodgson), <i>H. sinetuberculum</i> (Hodgson) and <i>H. uesatoi</i> Kondo &amp; Hardy. The <i>theobromae</i> group, on the other hand, has the following combination of characters: (i) dorsum with 4 clusters of 4-locular pores; (ii) each spiracular pore band with 1 spiracular disc-pore; (iii) very long setae absent from all femora, and (iv) stigmatic spines absent. It includes <i>H. imbricans</i>, <i>H. mangiferae</i> Kondo &amp; Williams, <i>H. theobromae</i> and <i>H. villiersi</i>. As pointed out by Kondo and Hardy, these two groups are also supported by a single adult female character, with those in the <i>theobromae</i> group lacking stigmatic spines while those in the <i>petasus</i> group have well-developed stigmatic spines. This suggests that the present composition of <i>Hemilecanium</i> may be paraphyletic. This was understood by Kondo and Hardy who go on to say (2008, p. 212) “We need data on first-instar nymphs of additional species to determine whether these two crawler types and their associated adult females will correspond to reciprocally monophyletic groups”. Below is described a further species which is here being tentatively placed in <i>Hemilecanium</i>. Although the 1 st- instar nymphs fulfil the 4 character-states for the <i>petasus</i> group discussed above, they also have an apparently unique character – 1-4 coneshaped or flap-like triangular structures medially on most segments.
description: Published as part of <i>Hodgson, Chris, 2008, A new genus and two new species of soft scale insect (Sternorrhyncha, Coccoidea, Coccidae) from Africa, pp. 57-76 in ZooKeys 3 (3)</i> on pages 62-63, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.3.45, http://zenodo.org/record/576418
description: {"references": ["Newstead R (1908) On a collection of Coccidae and other insects affecting some cultivated and wild plants in Java and in Tropical West Africa. Journal of Economic Biology London 3: 33 - 42.", "Hodgson CJ (1994) The Scale Insect Family Coccidae: An Identification Manual to Genera. CAB International, Wallingford, 639 pp.", "Kondo T, Williams ML (2005) Description of a new species of Hemilecanium Newstead (Hemiptera: Coccidae) on mango in Thailand, and a key to species of the genus. Zootaxa 1045: 25 - 37.", "Kondo T, Hardy NB (2008) Synonymy of Etiennea Matile-Ferrero with Hemilecanium Newstead (Hemiptera: Coccidae), based on morphology of adult females, adult males and firstinstar nymphs, and description of a new potential pest species from the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. Entomological Science 11: 189 - 212."]}