Valid Names Results

Scleromytilus litothrix Munting, 1965 (Diaspididae: Scleromytilus)

Scleromytilus litothrix Munting 1965b: 207-209. Type data: SOUTH AFRICA: Piesangkloof, 30 miles east of Rustenburg, on Viscum combreticola, 11/08/1964, by J. Munting. Holotype, female, Type depository: Pretoria: South African National Collection of Insects, South Africa; accepted valid name Illustr.

Families: 1 | Genera: 1

Countries: 1

Systematics: Scleromytilus litothrix differs from S. hargreavesi in having gland spines that are never forked apically (Munting, 1965b).
Structure: Female scale white, elongate, varying in shape according to position on host plant, about 1.5 mm long, always pressed into the crevices of host bark. Male scale also white, more or less parallel sided non-carinated and about 1.0 mm long. Slide-mounted adult female fusiform, slightly narrower towards the head, up to 1.2 mm long. Pygidium broadly rounded with conspicuous, projecting median lobes which have their outer margins sloping away, much longer than the mesal margin and diagonal to the long axis of the body; 2nd lobes bilobulate, very small but clearly discernable as small sclerotized points of the pygidial margin; 3rd lobes also very small and sometimes not apparent (Munting, 1965b).
General Remarks: Detailed description and illustration by Munting (1965b).