Kerria manipurensis Ahmad & Ramamurthy, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ahmad, Ayashaa
name: Sharma, K. K.
name: Vidyarthi, A. S.
name: Ramani, R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Kerriidae
Kerria
Kerria manipurensis

description: Kerria manipurensis Ahmad & Ramamurthy sp. nov.
(Figs 1, 4, 7–24)
Holotype: India: Churachandpur, Manipur, 09.ix.2011, coll. K. K. Sharma, Malvaviscus penduliflorus (Malvaceae), 1 slide (1 adƤ) (NPC). Paratypes: Data same as holotype, 2 slides (6 adƤ) (NPC); 1 slide (4 adƤ) (IINRG-R); 1 slide (3 adƤ) (ANIC) and 1 slide (3 adƤ) (BME).
Adult female
Unmounted material (Figs 1, 4). Lac test light brown, soft, resinous. Tests occur in aggregations; live mature females crimson. Unmounted cleaned female shown in Figure 4.
Mounted material (Figs 7–24). Body globular, 1.15–1.59 mm long, 0.84–1.13 mm wide at apex, 1.05–1.52 mm wide at middle and 0.65–0.95 mm wide at base (n=10).
Dorsum: Brachia sessile, clubbed in shape and slightly sclerotized, 200–270 µm long. Brachial plate circular, diameter 165–225 µm; brachial crater shallow, sub-rectangular, 115–160 µm wide, with a defined rim, dimples small, obscure, 4 in number. Anterior spiracle 170–340 µm long and 140–185 µm wide, 35–125 µm away from brachial crater. Ratio of distance of anterior spiracles from crater rim to width of brachial plate 1:0.19–0.69. Ratio of length of anterior spiracle to width of brachial plate 1:0.94–1.80. Dorsal spine well developed 155–300 µm long and 80–130 µm wide at base; pedicel small, square, slightly sclerotized, 75–120 µm long; spine 80–195 µm long and sclerotized, with 1 or 2 spinosities at its base. Ratio of length of pedicel to spine 1:0.38–0.94. Ratio of total length of dorsal spine to width of brachial plate 1:0.84–1.58. Anal tubercle abbreviated, well developed; pre-anal plate membranous, 240–480 µm long, 280–330 µm wide; supra-anal plate heavily sclerotized, hispid near apex 210–320 µm long, 250–300 µm wide, ratio of length of supra-anal plate to width of plate 1:0.84–1.14. Ratio of length of supra-anal plate to length of brachia 1:1.0–1.19. Anal fringe plates short, fringe maximum length 45.0–80.0 µm. Anal ring 6 sectored with 10 setae. Dorsal duct clusters present as a row of ducts on both sides between dorsal spine and base of anal tubercle, each cluster with 5–10 tubular ducts along with dorsal setae and spermatoid ducts.
Venter: Antennae 20–30 µm long, 3 segmented, segmentation obscure, apical segment slightly pointed with 3 long fleshy and 2 short hairy setae. Clypeolabral shield 240–290 µm long, 120–160 µm wide. Labium 2 segmented. Pre-oral lobes elongated, membranous, and present along sides of clypeolabral shield. Post-oral lobes each 140–190 µm long, membranous, dome-shaped. Legs present and vestigial, each small and one-segmented, with a rudimentary claw. Posterior spiracles each 70–80 µm long, smaller than anterior spiracles, born on a sclerotized plate, with 46–70 spiracular pores present along one side of spiracle. Marginal duct clusters distinct, 6 in number, each cluster arranged in a convoluted line consisting of 43–49 ducts without any surrounding sclerotization. Perivulvar pore clusters: 12–14 on each side of anal tubercle, circular in shape, each pore with 5–10 loculi. Ventral duct clusters irregular in shape, totalling 3 pairs: first pair anterior to mouthparts, second pair anterolateral to mouthparts, and third pair postero-lateral to posterior spiracle. Star pores: 5–19 present near mouthparts.
Comments. Kerria manipurensis is very similar to Kerria javana (Chamberlin) in having: (i) the supra-anal plate abbreviated and hispid, (ii) brachia short and indistinct, and (iii) brachial plate quadrate/rectangular with 4 or 5 indistinct dimples. However, it differs in having (character states in K. javana in brackets): (i) antennae three segmented with 3 long setae (single segmented with 4 long setae); (ii) the dorsal spine is 1.16x longer than the width of brachial plate (as long as width of brachial plate); (iii) each anterior spiracle is 1.31x longer than the width of brachial plate (length smaller or equal to width of brachial plate); and (iv) the distance of anterior spiracle from crater rim to width of brachial plate is 1.38x greater in K. manipurensis than that of K. javana.
Etymology. This species is named after its locality of collection, i.e., Manipur.
description: Published as part of Ahmad, Ayashaa, Sharma, K. K., Vidyarthi, A. S. & Ramani, R., 2013, Three new species of Kerria (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea: Tachardiidae), a redesciption of K. yunnanensis Ou & Hong, and a revised key to species of Kerria, pp. 518-532 in Zootaxa 3620 (4) on pages 520-523, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3620.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/215576