Valid Names Results

Thysanaspis dennorum Normark and Okusu, 2019 (Diaspididae: Thysanaspis)

Nomenclatural History

• Thysanaspis dennorum Normark and Okusu 2019: 681. Type data: FLORIDA: Little Crawl Key, (24.745°N, 80.982°W), 10/22/2014, on Avicennia germinans, by. B. D. Denno and D.R. Miller. Holotype, female, by original designation Type depository: Amherst: University of Massachusetts Entomology Collection; accepted valid name Notes: Puparium (second-instar cuticle) of the same individual mounted on the same microscope slide. Paratypes same data as holotype, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), 1 adult female (D5253F), 1 second-instar female (D5253E); Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA), 2 adult females (D5253CD); Natural History Museum (NHM), Illustr.

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 1 | Genera: 1

Geographic Distribution

Keys

Remarks

• Systematics: Genbank accession numbers KY220046.1, KY220047.1, KY220048.1, KY220049.1, Bayesian analysis of DNA sequences of 4 loci placed this species within the tribe Leucaspidini, sister to the species Thysanaspis litseae Takagi. (Normark et al. 2019). The adult female resembles other species of Thysanaspis in having: no lobes, plates, gland spines, or dorsal ducts; only small marginal ducts present on the pygidium; perivulvar pores arranged in a transversely elongate group anterior to the vulva; and a cluster of enlarged ventral ducts laterad of the anterior spiracle. In particular it resembles the type species T. acalyptus in having only a single, transverse group of perivulvar pores, whereas the other species of Thysanaspis (T. litseae Takagi and T. perkinsi Takagi) have additional supernumerary submarginal clusters of pores anterior to the main group. The adult female of T. dennorum differs from all other species of Thysanaspis in having an obovate body shape with a sharply narrowed, elongate pygidium; the other species short, broad pygidium. The puparium of T. dennorum resembles that of T. acalyptus in having the ventral surface of the pygidium modified to form a hinged flap. (Normark, et al., 2019)
• Structure: Thysanaspis dennorum occurs in a cup-like cavity formed between the base of the petiole and the main stem of the host. White wax occurs on the stem that contacts the dorsal surface of the scale insect and the same white wax surrounds the perimeter of the venter. The body color is yellow. Not all petioles of the host have cup-like cavities, but some petioles with cup-like cavities show no evidence of a previous scale insect infestation; thus it does not appear that T. dennorum induces formation of the cavity. Adult female obovate, widest atmetathorax; 0.6–1.0 (median 0.82) mm long, 0.4–0.6 (median 0.47) mm wide. Pygidium without lobes, plates or dorsal ducts; only marginal ducts present, these minute, 2-barred. Pygidium narrow, the width of the pygidium at the level of the perivulvar pores being only about 1/4 the greatest width of the body across the thorax. Anus near anterior margin of pygidium; vulva slightly posterior of anus but still in anterior third of pygidium. (Normark, et al., 2019)
• Biology: A pupillarial species, the adult female remaining permanently enclosed within the sclerotized cuticle of her own second-instar juvenile stage.The original slide label for the 1974 sample reads "base of Rhizophora petioles," implying that the host was the local Rhizophora species, R. mangle L. However, after having successfully found the species a second time 40 years later, D.R. Miller now believes that the correct host for both samples is Avicennia germinans L. (Normark, et al., 2019)
• General Remarks: Detailed description and illustrations in Normark, et al., 2019.

Illustrations

Citations