Valid Names Results

Myrtaspis Takagi, 1999 (Diaspididae)

Nomenclatural History

• Myrtaspis Takagi 1999: 147. Type species: Myrtaspis marginalis Takagi by original designation . accepted valid name
• Takagiaspis Varshney 2002: 78. Type species: Chionaspis lumbiniana Takagi . junior synonym Notes: This genus was erected in Varshney, 2002, based on Takagi's (1999) ideas about the uncertainty of the generic position of C. lumbiniana. Therefore, a monotypic genus was established to provide a placement for C. lumbiniana, although, the genus, itself, was not described nor illustrated by Varshney. (Takagi & De Faveri, 2011)

Remarks

• Systematics: Subfamily DIASPIDINAE Tribe DIASPIDINI Subtribe CHIONASPIDINA (Normark, et al., 2019) This genus is erected for species which apparently have a close relation to Aulacaspis, but cannot be referred to that genus in having lateral macroducts and gland spines on the body part anterior to the 2nd abdominal segment. Myrtaspis differs from Chionaspis in the median lobes being only weakly zygotic and only a little differentiated in shape and size from the lobules of the well-developed 2nd and 3rd lobes. Myrtaspis is also similar to Narayanaspis, in which the pygidial lobes are all similar in shape and size and the median lobes are definitely non-zygotic and parallel (Takagi, 1999). In 2020, Takagi stated that he had tried in vain to find a character or a combination of characters which is stable in the adult females of all the examined samples and useful for recognizing the genus and especially for separating it from Chionaspis. He separated the two genera based on their first instar nymphs. He also noted the tendency of the antennal setae to be outstandingly elongated in the adult females of Myrtaspis and adopted that as an auxiliary diagnostic character in addition to the five-segmented antennae in the first instar nymphs for distinguishing Myrtaspis from Chionaspis.
• General Remarks: Takagi (2020) commented on Chionaspis broughae and Chionaspis comys saying "The figures given by the authors for these species show that the antennal setae in the adult females of the following two species from New Guinea are much longer than those in the other species. Provided all these figures of the antennae are drawn at the same magnification, they should reflect the real differences in length. Now that the more or less outstanding elongation of antennal setae in the adult female is adopted in the present study as an auxiliary generic character of Myrtaspis, the possibility may not be excluded that the two species from New Guinea are members of Myrtaspis.

Keys

Associated References

• NormarOkMo2019: taxonomy, pp. 52, 75
• Takagi1999: description, distribution, taxonomy, pp. 147-148
• Takagi2020: diagnosis, history, morphology, taxonomy, pp.
• TakagiDe2009: taxonomy, pp. 115
• Varshn2002: pp. 67
• Varshn2002: distribution, host, taxonomy, pp. 78

17 Species