Valid Names Results

Cosmococcus erythrinae Borchsenius, 1959 (Lecanodiaspididae: Cosmococcus)

Nomenclatural History

• Cosmococcus erythrinae Borchsenius 1959a: 845. Type data: CHINA: Yunnan province, Mangshi, on branches of Erythrina indica. Holotype, unknown, Type depository: St. Petersburg: Zoological Museum, Academy of Science, Russia; accepted valid name Illustr.
• Cosmococcus euphorbiae Borchsenius 1959a: 845. Type data: CHINA: Yunnan province, near Binchwan, on the stems of Euphorbia splendens. Holotype, unknown, Type depository: St. Petersburg: Zoological Museum, Academy of Science, Russia; junior synonym (discovered by WangWaZh2024, 339). Illustr.
• Cosmococcus albizziae Borchsenius 1960d: 244. Type data: CHINA: Yunnan Province, on branches of Albizia mollis. Holotype, unknown, Type depository: St. Petersburg: Zoological Museum, Academy of Science, Russia; junior synonym (discovered by WangWaZh2024, 333). Illustr.

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 8 | Genera: 11

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• LambdiKo1973: pp.38 ( Adult (F) ) [World] Key as: Cosmococcus albizziae, Cosmococcus euphorbiae
• Borchs1960d: pp.242 ( Adult (F) ) [World] Key as: Cosmococcus albizziae, Cosmococcus euphorbiae

Remarks

• Systematics: The redescriptions and illustrations in Lambdin & Kosztarab (1973), based Borchsenius’s slides, showed that characters (i) and (ii) used by Borchsenius (1960) to separate the three Cosmococcus species from China were unreliable; this was also supported by observations, based on a number of specimens from the same populations. The comments by Lambdin & Kosztarab (1973) on the affinities of these three species showed that they were morphologically close to each other. To distinguish them, Lambdin & Kosztarab (1973) explored another five characters [(ii) ‒ (vi)], which we found to be either variable within populations or not stable. As a result, the morphological characters defining these three species largely overlap, failing to support the validity of three Cosmococcus species from China. According to the law of priority, C. euphorbiae and C. albizziae are placed as junior synonyms of C. erythrinae. The lack of molecular variability in all three genes studied supports our hypothesis that all the Cosmococcus samples from Yunnan Province studied belong to the same species, justifying the synonymy . (Wang, Wang & Zhang, 2024)
• Structure: Female test slightly convex, ornately sculptured with white gibbous projections. Male test oval, flat, with longitudinal and transverse ridges, beige in colour (Borchsenius, 1959a. Female test subcircular, slightly convex; wax protrusions forming a medial carina; transverse mid-dorsal projections extending from the medial carina to submedial area where it fuses with the 2 submedial longitudinal rows or irregularly shaped projections. Margins with 9 to 11 wax-like projections of variable shape and size; 6-7 mm long, 5-6 mm wide. Male test short, oval, with a longitudinal rib in the middle and several transverse ridges; 2.3 mm long, 1.4 mm wide (Borchsenius, 1960d; Lambdin & Kosztarab, 1973). Young adult female flat, reproductive female slightly convex, both covered with a layer of translucent secreted wax with white wax protrusions; ovipositing and postreproductive female completely surrounded by a relatively thick, hard and moderately convex protective test, beige in color, and covered with same sort of secretions as reproductive female; test 4.5‒7.1 mm long, 4.0‒6.5 mm wide, rounded to oval. White wax protrusions arranged as follows: margin at middle front of head with 1 protrusion, each side margin with 9‒11 of variable shapes and sizes, and 5 submarginal and 5 medial protrusions, some completely separate but others fused; protrusions in medial and submarginal areas irregularly shaped; submarginal protrusions at 45º, 90º and 135º from the longitudinal axis extending transversely to fuse with medial protrusions, giving appearance of a white flower. The white waxy protrusions on the test often fall off after death of the insect. Male cocoon smaller than female test 1.5‒2.1 mm long and about 1.0 mm wide, elongate oval, white to beige, with a longitudinal ridge on midline, several transverse ridges, and a semicircular to circular, hinged operculum for emergence at posterior end of abdomen. (Wang, Wang & Zhang, 2024)
• General Remarks: Description and illustration of adult female by Borchsenius (1959a; 1960d) and by Lambdin & Kosztarab (1973). Updated description and photographs in Wang, Wang & Zhang (2024).

Illustrations

Citations