Douglass R. Miller

ScaleNet: a literature-based model of scale insect biology and systematics

Scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) are small herbivorous insects found on all continents except Antarctica. They are extremely invasive, and many species are serious agricultural pests. They are also emerging models for studies of the evolution of genetic systems, endosymbiosis and plant-insect interactions. ScaleNet was launched in 1995 to provide insect identifiers, pest managers, insect systematists, evolutionary biologists and ecologists efficient access to information about scale insect biological diversity. It provides comprehensive information on scale insects taken directly from the primary literature. Currently, it draws from 23 477 articles and describes the systematics and biology of 8194 valid species. For 20 years, ScaleNet ran on the same software platform. That platform is no longer viable. Here, we present a new, open-source implementation of ScaleNet. We have normalized the data model, begun the process of correcting invalid data, upgraded the user interface, and added online administrative tools. These improvements make ScaleNet easier to use and maintain and make the ScaleNet data more accurate and extendable. Database URL: http://scalenet.info

A new genus and species of mealybug with a consideration of morphological convergence in three arboreal species (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)

Abstract Descriptions and illustrations are given of male and female instars of the mealybug Plotococcus eugeniae, gen.n. and sp.n. This pseudococcid inhabits the dense hammock vegetation of southern Florida and is found primarily on Eugenia. It has the unusual habit of infesting many microhabitats on leaf undersurfaces rather than limiting its distribution to primary and secondary veins as do most leaf‐inhabiting mealybugs. Plotococcus eugeniae has unusually long legs, tarsal claws, antennae, and lateral wax filaments. Leptococcus metroxyli Reyne from New Guinea and Macrocepicoccus loranthi Morrison from Guyana also have these features. These species are redescribed and illustrated, and morphological comparisons are given that document the similarity of gross body structure among all three taxa. Evidence is presented suggesting that the unique morphology of these species has evolved independently through selection for dispersal as adult females.

World revision of Ortheziola Šulc (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Ortheziidae) with descriptions of eleven new species

Soil samples and museum collections were analysed from all zoogeographic regions of the world. From this material eleven new species of OrtheziolaŠulc are described from Africa and the U.K., five additional species are redescribed and a key is presented for the identification of all sixteen species. A slightly modified concept of the genus is presented and several new characters are given as diagnostic of the genus. A phylogenetic hypothesis is given based on analysis of the morphological features of adult females. Results show that Ortheziola is most diverse in eastern Africa where relatively more advanced species occur. Basal species occur primarily in western Africa and Asia.

Description of a new genus of scale insect with a discussion of relationships among families related to the Kermesidae (Homoptera: Coccoidea)

Abstract. A new kermesid genus, Eriokermes, is described for three species previously placed in the Eriococcidae: Eriokermes gillettei (Tinsley) comb.n.; E.juniperi (Goux) comb.n.; and E.juniperinus (De Lotto) comb.n. Keys to Nearctic kermesid genera, Eriokermes species, and immatures and adults of E.gillettei are provided. Four female and five male instars of E.gillettei are described. Eriokermes is placed in Kermesidae based on a cladistic estimate of its phylogenetic position.

Changes and comments on the taxonomy and nomenclature of some taxa in the families Coccidae, Eriococcidae and Pseudococcidae (Homoptera: Coccoidea).

Catalogues of soft scale insects (Coccidae), felt scales (Eriococcidae) and mealybugs (Pseudococcidae) will soon be placed on the World Wide Web. Before these data are made available, several taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in taxa of these families must be validated in print.

Phenacoccus avenae Borchsenius (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) from the Netherlands and Turkey, intercepted at quarantine on bulbs, corms and rhizomes of ornamental plants

Phenacoccus avenae Borchsenius, a mealybug described originally from beneath the leaf sheaths of a grass in Armenia, USSR, has been intercepted at quarantine in the Netherlands. USA and England on bulbs, corms and rhizomes of ornamental plants from Turkey. The mealybug, however, has never been recorded from Turkey although it probably exists there on monocotyledons. It is redescribed and illustrated here to facilitate identification at quarantine stations, and a list is given of its host-plants in the families Gramineae, Amaryllidaceae, Iridaceae and Liliaceae.

The identity and distribution of Fiorinia phantasma (Cockerell & Robinson) (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae), with a new synonym.

The morphologies of Fiorinia phantasma (Cockerell & Robinson) (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae) and F. coronata Williams & Watson are reviewed, and the name F. coronata is placed as a junior synonym of the name F. phantasma syn. n. The known geographical distribution and host range of F. phantasma is documented and discussed. An identification key to 12 of the 16 species of Fiorinia known from the Australasian, Nearctic and Neotropical Regions is provided.

Rediscovering digitules in Aphidomorpha and the question of homology among Sternorrhyncha (Insecta, Hemiptera)

Abstract We explore and expand on the morphological term digitule. The term was originally proposed for toe-like setae on a species of Phylloxera Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1834 (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Aphidomorpha) by Henry Shimer, an American naturalist. While it is standard terminology in scale systematics (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Coccidomorpha), the term digitule was ignored by aphid specialists despite being the original taxon for which the term was described. Similar setae occur on many arthropod groups, so the homology is poorly understood even within any superfamily of Hemiptera. We provide the etymology of the term, a proposed explanation for why it was used among scale taxonomists and not aphid taxonomists, and discuss briefly options to progress beyond the confusion between terminology for morphology and homology in Sternorrhyncha.

Louise May Russell 1905–2009

This tribute is presented in recognition of a truly remarkable scientist— Miss Louise May Russell (Figs. 1–7). She transformed herself from a small town farm girl in upstate New York to a world-renowned entomologist who studied aphids, psyllids, scale insects, and whiteflies. She started her scientific career in 1927 and published her last paper in 2006. Louise was born in Crown Point, New York, on May 6, 1905, and was raised on a farm with her family of five brothers and one sister. She entered Cornell University in 1922 where she received a Bachelors degree in 1926 and a Masters degree in 1927, a feat few women accomplished at the time. In 1927 she applied for a job as a senior scientific aid with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C. and spent several years mounting scale insects for Dr. Harold Morrison. She showed such promise that Morrison recommended her for a professional entomology position, which she achieved as a Junior Entomologist in 1929. She was promoted many times during her career: Assistant Entomologist 1938–1944, Associate Entomologist 1944–1946, Entomologist 1946–1953, Senior Entomologist 1953– 1962, and Research Entomologist (GS-11 to GS-14) 1962–1975. During the last several years of her official employment, she was the Leader of a Unit comprising four or five scientists and two or three technical staff. Louise published 106 scientific papers (more than 50 that were peer reviewed), 31 on aphids, 28 on whiteflies, nine on scale insects, seven on psyllids, two on cicadas, and one on cercopids (Appendix 1). Remarkably, she published her last article as a centurion at the age of 101. She described 84 new species of pit scales, 63 species and four genera of whiteflies, and two species of psyllids (Appendix 2). Surprisingly, she did not describe new taxa of aphids but clarified the identity of many species, particularly those of agricultural importance and solved numerous nomenclatural problems. Some of her most important works in scale insects came with the publication of her 1941 monograph on the genus Asterolecanium. As a measure of the quality of this pioneering work, she described 84 species; not one of them has been synonymized. Although recent research has been published on the group, Russell (1941) remains an important volume in the libraries of many researchers and identifiers. Louise spent considerable time helping others and was honored by scientists worldwide for this effort with numerous patronyms. We have discovered 26 names (three genera and 23 species), and there may be more (Appendix 3). In the area of identification services, she determined nearly 50,000 lots of scales, whiteflies, psyllids, and aphids including more than 200,000 specimens. Those determinations were critical for programs in quarantine, systematics research, pest control, and regulatory entomology and often required considerable Louise May Russell 1905–2009

The Identity and Distribution of the Mealybug Species Nipaecoccus filamentosus (Cockerell) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Abstract The mealybug Nipaecoccus filamentosus (Cockerell) was described originally as Dactylopius filamentosus Cockerell from South Caicos Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It has been listed in error from the Bahamas and from Mexico and the mealybug name wrongly applied to a similar species now known as Nipaecoccus viridis (Maskell). Furthermore, the name Dactylopius filamentosus, as first applied by Cockerell, has been recorded in error from various localities in the Old World because of erroneous synonymy early in the 19th century. The mealybug species N. filamentosus has neither been described nor illustrated adequately since it was first named over 100 years ago and its identity has remained obscure. We now describe and illustrate this mealybug and confirm that it is a local species occurring in the Caribbean area only.