Valid Names Results

Pulvinaria indica Avasthi & Shafee, 1985 (Coccidae: Pulvinaria)

Nomenclatural History

• Pulvinaria indica Avasthi & Shafee 1985: 1290. Type data: INDIA: Andhra Pradesh, Vishakhapatnam, Simahachalam, on Duranta repens.. Holotype, female, Type depository: Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University, Department of Zoology, India; accepted valid name

Common Names

Ecological Associates

Hosts:

Families: 2 | Genera: 2

Geographic Distribution

Keys

• TalukdDa2021: pp.440 ( Adult (F) ) [Pulvinaria in India]
• Joshi2017: pp.540 ( Adult (F) ) [Indian species of Pulvinaria]

Remarks

• Structure: Colonies were found on roots and aerial parts just above ground. Female oblong ovate, flat initially, but with age becoming moderately convex in median portion. Nymphs reddish brown initially but as they grow, becoming yellowish brown with dark brown speckles in submarginal area that merge to form bars on submargin of abdomen. Anal plates moderately dark, surrounded by paler area. Each stigmatic area marked with a dark bar; three similar bars present on head. (Joshi, et al., 2019) Ovisac as wide as body and up to five times as long, sometimes curved, with three main longitudinal furrows forming four longitudinal ridges (Fig. 1C). Eggs shiny, ochre-coloured. After oviposition, female becomes shrunken and darker. (Avasthi & Shafee, 1985) Slide-mounted adult female broadly oval, in many cases almost circular (Fig. 2A), 2.00‒3.01 mm long, 2.00‒2.42 mm wide, length 1.00‒1.24 times width. Anal cleft 0.38‒0.44 mm long, 0.15‒0.18 times as long as body length. (Joshi, et al., 2019) Several morphological variations were found within the specimens observed by Joshi, et al. (2019) and between the original description and the specimens examined. The stigmatic spines appear to be the most variable character. The original description mentioned that the anterior clefts always have the median spine as long as the lateral spines and the posterior clefts always have the median spine more than twice as long as the lateral spines; but in their collection there were some specimens with the anterior cleft having a long median spine and the posterior cleft having equivalent spines (four out of 15 specimens). There are usually three spines in each stigmatic cleft, but two specimens had four spines, and one had five spines of similar lengths. Also, in some specimens the stigmatic spines had bifurcate tips (10 setae were found bifurcated to various degrees). The original description also records the presence of only one type of ventral tubular duct in the cephalic, thoracic and abdominal regions; however, they observed four types of tubular duct at different locations. Similarly, the original description claims the absence of clear areas on the derm; however, the most mature females examined showed the presence of well-marked dermal areolations on the marginal areas and faint areolations on the median areas. In addition, of the 15 specimens examined, two had four apical setae on each anal plate instead of the three normal for this species.
• Biology: Some colonies of P. indica were found feeding on the roots. Leaves of the plant with dense colonies had turned yellowish and some of the infested branches were completely dried out, damage caused by continuous sap extraction by the scales.
• General Remarks: Detailed description, photographs and illustration in Joshi, et al., 2019.

Illustrations

Citations