Coccus cambodiensis Takahashi 1942

Coccus cambodiensis Takahashi, 1942

(Figs 1 and 2)

The species is known from Kampuchea (García-Morales et al. 2016; Ali 1971) and Hainan Province, China (Tang 1991) on Ficus retusa (Moraceae). Tang (1991) remarked that it is morphologically close to P. acutissimus, the type species of the monotypic genus Prococcus.

Diagnosis based on Takahashi (1942) and Tang (1991): Body of adult female narrow, elongate to elongate oval, pointed at anterior and posterior ends, 2.0– 2.5 mm long, 1.0– 1.7 mm wide; young insects in life yellow. Dorsum with derm slightly sclerotized in older females, with well-developed dermal areolations; setae cylindrical with bluntly rounded apices; dorsal tubular ducts absent; submarginal tubercles numbering 14 around body; preopercular pores in an elongate group anterior to anal plates; anal plates each triangular, together quadrate, length of posterior margin almost equal to anterior margin; each plate with 1 subdiscal seta and 2 or 3 apical setae. Marginal setae slender with pointed apices; stigmatic spines numbering 3, median spine longest, straight or slightly curved, cylindrical with a bluntly pointed or rounded apex; lateral spines conical with rounded apices. Venter with antennae reduced to 2 or 3 segments each, mostly 2 (2 segments shown in Takahashi’s (1942) illustration—see Fig. 2 and description and Tang’s (1991) description, but 3 segments shown in his illustration—see Fig. 1); inter-antennal setae absent or numbering 2 pairs (text in Tang (1991) says they are absent, but his illustration shows 2 pairs of short setae—see Fig. 1); submarginal setae present; long pregenital setae numbering 3 pairs; legs reduced, with tibio-tarsus fused, claw digitules usually not discernible; ventral tubular ducts absent; multilocular disc pores very few, present anterior to anal opening, but their frequency and number of loculi are neither mentioned nor illustrated by either Takahashi (1942) or Tang (1991); abdominal segmentation obscure.

Comments. Coccus cambodiensis differs from P. acutissimus as follows (character-states for P. acutissimus given in brackets): (i) body tapering at both ends, each end rounded (tapering at both ends, each end more-or-less pointed); (ii) dorsal derm with numerous areolations (small round or oval clear areas present on the dorsum (Gill et al. 1977)); (iii) dorsal setae slender and cylindrical with bluntly rounded apices (robust, spine like and slightly tapering with pointed or blunt apices); (iv) claw digitules not discernable, possibly absent (claw digitules unequal, with 1 thick and 1 thin); (v) antennae mainly 2 segmented (mainly 3 segmented); and (vi) inter-antennal setae absent (2 pairs of inter-antennal setae present between antennal bases).

Based on the shared morphological characters listed above, C. cambodiensis is obviously much closer to P. acutissimus than to C. hesperidum, the type species of Coccus. It is here considered to be congeneric with P. acutissimus, and is transferred to the genus Prococcus as Prococcus cambodiensis (Takahashi, 1942), comb. n.