Valid Names Results

Melanaspis aristotelesi Lepage & Giannotti, 1944 (Diaspididae: Melanaspis)

Melanaspis aristotelesi Lepage & Giannotti 1944: 300. Type data: BRAZIL: Alagoas State, Marechal Deodoro City, on Anacardium occidentalis.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: Curitiba: Departamento de Zoologia, Setor de Ciencias Biologicas, Universidade Federal do Parana, Brazil; Sao Paulo: Instituto Biologico de Sao Paulo, Brazil; accepted valid name Illustr.
Melanaspis aristotelis Lepage & Giannotti, 1944; Lindinger 1957: 550. misspelling of species epithet

Families: 2 | Genera: 2

Countries: 1

Systematics: Among the Melanaspis species that occur in Brazil, Melanaspis bondari Lepage and Giannotti most closely resembles M. aristotelesi; both have five pairs of paraphyses with similar shape and distribution in the pygidium. However, M. aristotelesi does not possess two slightly sclerotized tubercles on the point of the posterior spiracles, as found in M. bondari. Furthermore, the shape of the pygidial lobes is different, and after the third pair of lobes, M. aristotelesi has only a small protrusion representing the fourth lobe. Melanaspis bondari has a series of 3–4 protrusions on the pigment margin (Castro, et al., 2020a).
Structure: Female scale more or less circular, 1.4 mm in diameter; colour brown chestnut or ash; convex; exuviae black, central or subcentral; ventral scale white (Lepage & Giannotti, 1944).
Biology: Melanaspis aristotelesi was more abundant on the upper surface. Due to the high infestation, these insects could impair the photosynthesis process of the plant, as the leaf surfaces were almost completely covered by scale insects, (Castro, et al., 2020a)
General Remarks: Description and illustration of adult female by Lepage & Giannotti (1944).