Valid Names Results

Mimosicerya mexicana (Morrison, 1927) (Monophlebidae: Mimosicerya)

Nomenclatural History

• Cryptokermes brasiliensis; Cockerell 1902t: 469. misidentification (discovered by Morris1927, 103).
• Cryptokermes brasiliensis; Ferris 1918a: 22. misidentification (discovered by Morris1927, 103).
• Cryptokermes mexicanus Morrison 1927: 103. Type data: MEXICO: Zapotlan, Jalisco, on Mimosa sp., 1903, collected by C.H.T. Townsend.. Holotype, female, Type depository: Washington: United States National Entomological Collection, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, District of Columbia, USA; accepted valid name
• Mimosicerya mexicana (Morrison, 1927); Foldi & Gullan 2014: 28. change of combination requiring emendation of specific epithet for agreement in gender

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 1 | Genera: 2

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• Foldi2011: pp.484 ( Adult (F) ) [A key to Species of Cryptokermes Hempel Based on Adult Females]
• Morris1928: pp.104 ( Immature (F) ) [Species of Cryptokermes]

Remarks

• Systematics: There have been several descriptions of this species. Cockerell (1902t) and Ferris (1918a) both erroneously referred to the species as Cryptokermes brasiliensis. Later, Morrison (1927) named the species as Cryptokermes mexicanus and provided the details of the type specimens. Morrison (1928) pointed out that Ferris' (1918a) and Cockerell's (1902t) descriptions were actually of C. mexicanus. There is no mention of a test in any of the above four papers, and Ferris (1918a, page 221) says of the adult female: "remaining enclosed within the derm of the penultimate stage", which is a characteristic of the genus Mimosicerya. Also Morrison (1927, page 103) describes the first-instar nymph as having curious derm discs that are flattened or with the centre slightly convex. We examined these structures under the compound microscope and they are toadstool shaped in side view and exactly match the disc-like tubercles of the first-instar nymph of M. hempeli, rather than the disc-like tubercles of the first-instar nymph of C. brasiliensis. Based on the morphological features of the first-instar nymph and the preadult and adult females, Foldi & Gullan, 2014, transfered it to Mineosicerya as M. mexicana. As the genus name Mimosicerya (based on Icerya Signoret) is feminine and the species name is an adjective (Pellizzari & Williams, 2013), the latter was amended to "mexicana".
• Structure: Adult female body broadly oval, 5.2 mm long, 5.0 mm wide. Derm membranous throughout except for a wide circular sclerotised area on anterior end of body and a smaller slightly sclerotised area surrounding anal opening on posterior end of body. Antennae not seen. Eyespots appear as 2 light spots within sclerotised area. Mouthparts absent. Legs absent. (Foldi & Gullan, 2014)
• General Remarks: Detailed descriptions of adult female, third-instar and first-instar females and illustrations in Foldi & Gullan, 2014.

Illustrations

Citations