Valid Names Results

Rungaspis neotropicalis Wei, Schneider, Normark & Normark, 2021 (Diaspididae: Rungaspis)

Nomenclatural History

• Rungaspis neotropicalis Wei, Schneider, Normark & Normark 2021: 11. Type data: PANAMA: Parque Nacional San Lorenzo Canopy Crane, Colón (9.2802°N, 79.9754°W); on Marila laxiflora; 6/20/2012; by GE Morse & BB Normark. Holotype, female, by original designation Type depository: Panama: Museo de Invertebrados G. B. Fairchild, Panamá City, Panamá; accepted valid name Notes: Paratypes: • 4 adult females; same data as holotype; USNM (D3953K, D4168B, D6550C, D6552B); • 5 adult females; same data as holotype; UMEC (D3953J, D3953P, D3995B, D4168E, D6703C). Illustr.

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 1 | Genera: 1

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• WeiScNo2021: pp.17-23 ( Adult (F) ) [Aspidiotini from Panama]

Remarks

• Systematics: http://zoobank.org/02D416A8-3589-4AC4-877A-3F3A88E7C59B

  Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Rungaspis neotropicalis has affinities with African species. Schneider et al. 2018 shows R. neotropicalis nested within a clade of African Aspidiotus species (A. fularum Balachowsky, A. elaeidis Marchal, and an undescribed species from Uganda. Rungaspis neotropicalis resembles the other species of Rungaspis in having large basal and numerous narrow dorsal ducts (vs. few broad ducts). Rungaspis neotropicalis resembles Aspidiotus species in having basal scleroses of L1 and fringed plates, and molecular evidence indicates that its closest known relative is an African species of Aspidiotus. Morphologically, R. neotropicalis resembles Aspidiotus rhusae (Brain), a pupillarial species known from South Africa. The two species share a similar overall body shape, L1 with basal scleroses, absence of L3, absence of perivulvar pores, and presence of just a few slightly fringed plates and just a few broad, one-barred dorsal ducts near the pygidial margin. Characters that distinguish R. neotropicalis from A. rhusae are as follows (character of A. rhusae given in parentheses): L2 much narrower than L1 or absent (L2 nearly as broad as L1); space between L1 exceedingly narrow, without plates (space between L1 with pair of apically fringed plates); 4 or fewer dorsal ducts present on each side of pygidium (5 or more ducts present); 1–3 microducts present near each posterior spiracle (cluster of 5 or more ducts in this position); transverse rows of minute spicules present on mesothorax posterolaterad of mouthparts (absent); body margin slightly indented between prothorax and mesothorax (entire); eye a submarginal dorsal tubercle (eye marginal). The Neotropical species that R. neotropicalis most closely resembles is Rungaspis (= Aspidiella) rigida Ferris. The two species both have L1 with basal scleroses and closely approximated medial margins, other lobes reduced or absent, cephalothorax becoming sclerotized at full maturity, and perivulvar pores absent. Characters that distinguish R. neotropicalisR. rigida are as follows (character of R. rigida given in parentheses): plates present (absent); dorsal ducts of pygidium broad, much broader than ventral microducts, confined to margin and submargin (narrow, similar to ventral microducts, widely scattered); anus in posterior half of pygidium (anterior half). (Wei, et al., 2021)

  The second instar has a more completely developed secretory system than the adult, with more ducts, plates, and lobes – a pattern typical of pupillarial species and opposite to what is typical of non-pupillarial species. This may imply that this species is derived from a pupillarial ancestor and that the non-pupillarial form represents a secondary loss of the pupillarial habit.

• Structure: Adult female in some cases pupillarial, enclosed within sclerotized cuticle of 2nd instar; some individuals non-pupillarial. Slide-mounted adult female 350–610 μm long (holotype 540 μm, median 540 μm), 280–500 μm wide (holotype 410 μm, median 420 μm), broadest at mesothorax. Body outline broadly oval, with slight indentation between prothorax and mesothorax. Derm membranous throughout at maturity in pupllarial individuals; cephalothorax and pygidium becoming sclerotized at maturity in some non-pupillarial individuals. Antennae simple, each with one long seta. (Wei, et al., 20210
• Biology: This is an unusual species both in its life history, showing intraspecific variation in the pupillarial habit, and in its biogeography, having affinities to African species. Some slide-mounted specimens are unequivocally pupillarial, having well-developed 1st instars inside of adult females that are themselves inside of 2nd-instar cuticles. More often than not, these adult females are flipped inside their puparia, with their head at the posterior end of the puparium. Other specimens are apparently nonpupillarial, and some of these have a sclerotized cephalothorax, a feature not known to Wei, et al. in adult females of any pupillarial species. three sequenced gene regions show no differences between them and there are no consistent morphological differences either; therefore, we consider them to comprise a single species that includes both pupillarial and non-pupillarial developmental phenotypes. (Wei, et al., 2021)
• General Remarks: Detailed descsription and illustration in Wei, et al., 2021.

Illustrations

Citations