Pseudococcus comstocki
Creators: name: MOGHADDAM, MASUMEH
name: WATSON, GILLIAN W.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pseudococcidae
Pseudococcus
Pseudococcus comstocki

description: Pseudococcus comstocki (Kuwana)   
(Fig. 51 Plate 2 H, distribution map Fig. 70 B)  
 Dactylopius comstocki Kuwana, 1902: 52.   
 Field characteristics: Found on aerial plant parts. Body of adult female 1.5‒4.0 mm long, pink to reddish brown but coated in mealy white wax; sometimes with 2 longitudinal stripes of thinner wax cover; with 17 pairs of wax filaments on margins, the posteriormost pair up to 0.6x body length. When disturbed, the ostiolar fluid released is colourless. At maturity an ovisac is produced, containing yellow eggs.   
 Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female oval to broadly oval. Anal lobes moderately developed. Antennae usually each with 8 segments. Legs well developed; hind leg with numerous translucent pores on coxa, femur and tibia; tarsal digitules pointed at tio and longer than claw. Cerarii numbering 17 pairs; anal lobe cerarii each with 2 enlarged conical setae, about 6–8 auxiliary setae and a concentration of trilocular pores, all situated on an oval sclerotized area smaller than anal ring; anterior cerarii each with 2 smaller conical setae, 2–4 auxiliary setae and some trilocular pores; some cerarii on head each with 3 or (rarely) 5 conical setae. Circulus divided by an intersegmental line. Ostioles well developed. Anal ring with pores and 6 setae.   
 Dorsum with long flagellate setae, almost as long as ventral setae. Multilocular disc pores absent in Iranian specimens, specimens from elsewhere occasionally with a few. Trilocular pores and minute discoidal pores scattered throughout. Oral rim tubular ducts rarely with a discoidal pore next to rim margin (not seen in Iranian specimens); present singly next to some cerarii, and always with 1 behind each frontal cerarius; also present submedially on abdominal and thoracic segments, except prothorax. Oral collar tubular ducts all same size, present singly or in small numbers on margins of posterior abdominal segments.   
 Venter with long flagellate setae. Multilocular disc pores each with 10 loculi, present on anterior and posterior edges of abdominal segments IV– VII, a few on segments 1–III, and posterior to vulva, not reaching to margins; a few pores also present medially on thorax. Trilocular pores evenly distributed. Discoidal pores sparse throughout, but absent from next to eyes. Oral rim ducts slightly smaller than those on dorsum, present in small numbers on margins of thorax and segments I and II. Oral collar ducts of 2 sizes: larger type, similar to those on dorsum, fairly numerous around margins from anal lobes forwards to area between antennal bases; smaller type present across medial areas of segments III – VII.   
 Distribution: Pseudococcus comstocki is known from 34 countries in the Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions (García Morales et al. 2016) including Iran, where it has been recorded from Azarbaijan -e Garbi, Ghazvin, Gilan, Mazandaran and Tehran provinces (Moghaddam, 2013b).   
 Host-plants: The species has been found on host-plants in 76 genera belonging to 46 families (García Morales et al. 2016). In Iran, it has been recorded on Fabaceae: Glycine max and Robinia pseudoacaciae, and Moraceae: Morus alba (Moghaddam 2013b).   
 Economic importance: None in Iran.   
 Natural enemies: None recorded in Iran.
description: Published as part of MOGHADDAM, MASUMEH & WATSON, GILLIAN W., 2022, The Scale Insects Of Iran (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) Part 2 The Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae And Rhizoecidae) And Putoidae, pp. 1-169 in Zootaxa 5126 (1) on page 115, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5126.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6460412