Valid Names Results

Membranaria sacchari (Takahashi, 1928) (Coccidae: Membranaria)

Nomenclatural History

• Lecanopsis sacchari Takahashi 1928: 345. Type data: TAIWAN: Kori, Taichu, on Saccharum officinarum and Miscanthus sp.. Syntypes, female, Type depository: Taichung: Entomology Collection, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Wu-feng, Taichung, Taiwan; accepted valid name
• Membranaria sacchari (Takahashi, 1928); Pellizzari & Fontana 2002: 134. change of combination

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 1 | Genera: 2

Geographic Distribution

Keys

Remarks

• Systematics: The relationships of this species are unclear. Pellizzari and Fontana (2002), when reviewing the taxonomy of all species of Lecanopsis Targioni Tozzetti, saw type material of this species and concluded that it did not belong to Lecanopsis; they transferred it to Membranaria Brain. Membranaria sacchari shows many similarities to the type species of Membranaria. M. pretoriae Brain, sharing with it: (i) the marginal band of dorsal tubular ducts; (ii) two stigmatic spines, each stoutly spinose, set far apart in each cleft; (iii) fusion of the tibia and tarsus; (iv) claw digitules unequal, with one much broader than the other; (v) multilocular disc-pores extending anteriorly onto metathorax; (vi) anal plates each with several long setose setae; and (vii) they were both collected on the roots of grasses. The main differences between M. sacchari and M. pretoriae (mainly based on Takahashi 1928 and Hodgson, 2023) appear to be: (i) 5 setae on each anal plate (Takahashi 1928) (4 setae in M. pretoriae); (ii) ventral tubular ducts extending right to the margin and meeting those on the dorsal surface (a narrow marginal gap present on M. pretoriae); (iii) preopercular pores found widely on abdominal segments (restricted to a few just anterior to anal plates in M. pretoriae); (iv) marginal and dorsal setae with sharp apices (blunt apices in M. pretoriae); (v) only one type of ventral tubular duct (two types in M. pretoriae); and (v) dorsal tubular ducts present over most of dorsum (absent more medially in M. pretoriae). These differences suggest that M. sacchari may not be very closely related to M. pretoriae but its final placement will have to await further study. (Hodgson, 2023)
• Structure: “Dirty yellowish-brown to blackish brown in specimens preserved in alcohol, surrounded and partially covered in a white felted test as in Lecanopsis ceylonica Green. Body ovate, narrower in front, strongly convex on dorsum, with about four transverse narrow furrows on the dorsum. Length of body 3.5 to 4.5 mm” (Takahashi 1928). Width 2.5‒3.5 mm (Tao et al. 1983). Slide-mounted female body elongate-oval, rather rounded at each end; derm probably all membranous apart from a slightly darker area just anterior to anal plates (becoming more chitinized in mature females, Takahashi, 1928). Length of body about 3.0–3.2 mm long, width across thorax about 2.5 mm. Stigmatic clefts absent; anal cleft (with anal plates) short, about 1/11th of body length. (Hodgson, 2023)
• General Remarks: Description and illustration of adult female by Tao et al. (1983). Detailed redescriiption and illustration from slides believed to be mounted from alcohol-stored type material from Takahashi's original collection, in Hodgson, 2023.

Illustrations

Citations