Estudo morfológico dos estádios ninfais das fêmeas de Ceroplastinae Atkinson (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae)

Abstract

The immature females of twelve species of Ceroplastinae (wax scale insects) were described and compared, macro and microscopically, with the purpose of contributing to the understanding the groups of the species of this subfamily, whose generic status is controversial. The morphology of the immatures, although little studied and not yet used in the phylogenetic studies of this subfamily, was very important for the grouping of the studied species. Nymphs of the first and second instars varied widely in relation to the wax test and the stigmatic setae, separating the species studied in three main groups: I) C. cirripediformis Comstock, 1881, C. floridensis Comstock, 1881, C. formicarius Hempel, 1900, C. grandis Hempel, 1900, C. mosquerai Ben-Dov, 1993 and C. rusci (Linnaeus, 1758), with dry wax filaments and with cylindrical or slightly conical and conical stigmatic setae with rounded apex in the first instar and setae totally conical in the second instar; II) C. formosus Hempel, 1900, C. janeirensis (Gray, 1828) and C. lucidus Hempel, 1900 with a shell of wax glassy and absence of lateral expansions or dry filaments and with stigmatic setae cylindrical with rounded apex and wider than the base, in the two first instars, and III) C. diospyros Hempel, 1928, C. flosculoides Matile-Ferrero, 1993 and C. iheringi Cockerell, 1895 with intermediate characteristics in waxy covering and setae with pentagonal or irregular shapes. The pattern of wax test observed for the group I, previously mentioned for other authors, was the most frequent among the studied species and better distributed in the world, being probably the most common pattern in Ceroplastinae. The patterns of wax cover observed for Groups II and III are here described for the first time for the immature females of Ceroplastinae. The group II is probably restricted to the Neotropical region, and the group III, including Neotropical species, probably has representative species in the Afrotropical region.