Valid Names Results

Kermes nahalali Bodenheimer, 1931 (Kermesidae: Kermes)

Nomenclatural History

• Kermococcus nahalali Bodenheimer 1927b: 181. nomen nudum
• Kermes nahalali Bodenheimer 1931: 246. Type data: ISRAEL: Nahalal, on Quercus coccifera. Syntypes, female, Type depository: Bet Dagan: Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, Israel; accepted valid name Illustr.
• Talla nahalali (Bodenheimer, 1931); Lindinger 1933a: 143. change of combination
• Kermococcus nahalchi Silvestri, 1939; Silvestri 1939: 696. change of combination and misspelling of species epithet Notes: Ferris, 1921: 157 rejected the Silvestri substitution of Kermococcus for Kermes as not justified under the International Code and considered it a synonym. Borchsenius used Kermococcus as a proper replacement.
• Kermes bytinskii Bytinski-Salz & Sternlicht 1967: 126. nomen nudum Notes: Bytinskii-Salz & Sternlicht (1967) cite Kermes bytinskii as "i. litt." and state that "new species mentioned by M. Sternlicht in litteris will be described later in a separate paper."
• Kermes bytinskii Sternlicht 1969: 253-269. Type data: ISRAEL: Carmel range, Tivon, Allonim, on Quercus ithaburensis, ?/03/1958. Holotype, female, by original designation Type depository: Bet Dagan: Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, Israel; junior synonym (discovered by SpodekBe2014, 51). Illustr.

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 1 | Genera: 1

Foes:

Families: 1 | Genera: 2

Associates:

Families: 1 | Genera: 4

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• Hodgso2020: pp.153-154 ( Adult (M) ) [Kermesidae] Key as: Kermes bytinskii
• Hodgso2020: pp.153-154 ( Adult (M) ) [Kermesidae]
• SpodekBe2014: pp.7 ( Adult (F) ) [Key to the adult females of Kermesidae species of Israel]
• SpodekBe2014: pp.7-8 ( Third instar (F) ) [Key to the third-instar females of Kermesidae species of Israel]
• SpodekBe2014: pp.8 ( Second instar (F) ) [Key to the second-instar females of Kermesidae species of Israel]
• SpodekBe2014: pp.8 ( First instar ) [Key to the first-instar nymphs of Kermesidae species of Israel]
• SpodekBe2014: pp.8 ( Adult (F) ) [Key to the post-reproductive females of Kermesidae species of Israel]
• SpodekBe2014: pp.8-9 ( Adult (M) ) [Key to the adult males of Kermesidae species in Israel]
• SpodekBe2014: pp.9 ( Second instar (M) ) [Key to the second-instar males of Kermesidae in Israel]
• Borchs1960d: pp.36 ( Adult (F) ) [Species of Kermococcus] Key as: Kermococus nahali

Remarks

• Systematics: This species is close to Kermes bacciformis (Bodenheimer, 1931).Second-instar females of K. bytinskii and K. quercus have 5 or 6- segmented antennae, and short, 3-segmented legs; these characters are shared with the second-instar females of the Nearctic K. cockerelli Ehrhorn, K. concinnulus Cockerell and K. rimarum Ferris (Baer & Kosztarab, 1985). K. bytinskii Sternlicht was synonymised with K. nahalali Bodenheimer by Spodek and Ben-Dov (2014). However, Hodgson (2020) determined that the description of the morphology of the adult males described by Spodek and Ben-Dov differ in a few possibly significant features from those in Sternlicht (1969). As the adult males of K. bytinskii and K. nahalali key out in different places in the his key to the adult males of Kermesidae, he suggested that the adult males of K. bytinskii and K. nahalali need to be studied further.
• Structure: Adult female is regular, flat, oblong, but never spherical (Bodenheimer, 1931).Adult female has longitudinal furrow with deep transverse lines, brown or reddish grey. Newly emerged males are red to light brown, long and slender posteriorly and wide at their thoracal part, comparatively large (Sternlicht, 1969). Adult females of K. spatulatus and of K. nahalali have two brood chambers. (Spodek, et al., 2016)
• Biology: Young females are common in February and March. Copulation occurs at the beginning of March. Males may be found glued to the sweet liquid excreted by the females during and after copulation. Three to four weeks later, the first stage larvae emerge and are active. Larvae enter diapause from April until November or December, feeding for ten to fourteen days then moulting into the second stage male and female larvae. Males spin a waxy cocoon in which they moult in prepupae. Females moult into small hemispherical adult like third stage larvae. After seven to fourteen days of development, they moult in January or February into adult females (Sternlicht, 1969). Contrary to Sternlicht’s observations that Spodek, et al. (2016} found that K. nahalali is oviparous, as with other kermesids in Israel, with crawlers hatching from eggs in the brood chambers.
• General Remarks: Detailed description and illustration by Borchsenius (1960d).Detailed description and illustration of adults, first instar, both sexes of second instars and third instar female by Sternlicht (1969). Hodgson (2002) used this species in a phylogenetic analysis of non-margarodid Coccoidea. Detailed descriptions, photographs and illustrations of first instar nymphs, second, third instar and adult females as well as second instar, pupa and adult males in Spodek & Ben-Dov, 2014.

Illustrations

Citations