An online interactive identification key to common pest species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Diaspididae), version 1.0

Abstract

Citation: Schneider SA, Fizdale MA, Normark BB (2019) An online interactive identification key to common pest species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Diaspididae), version 1.0. ZooKeys 867: 87-96. https://doi. AbstractAspidiotini is a species-rich tribe of armored scale insects that includes several polyphagous and specialist pests that are commonly encountered at ports-of-entry to the United States and many other countries. This article describes a newly available online interactive tool that can be used to identify 155 species of Aspidiotini that are recognized as minor to major pests or that are potentially emergent pests. This article lists the species and features included with a description of the development and structure of the key. The interactive key is free to access at https://idtools.org/id/scales/aspidiotini/about_index.php.

Five new species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Diaspididae, Aspidiotinae) from Argentina, with a key to Argentine species

“…Morphological terminology conforms to descriptions and illustrations provided by Schneider et al (2019). Measurements were made on a Zeiss Axio Imager.M2 (Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC, White Plains, NY, USA) microscope with the aid of an Axi-oCam and AxioVision software.…”

“…Argentina (Jujuy). Dorsum of pygidium with several sclerotized areas divided by furrows, one of which isolates L2 from remaining sclerotized areas; anterior submarginal region of dorsal pygidium appears reticulated or striped with variously branching furrows; longest paraphyses attached to lobes, never arising from interlobular spaces (Crenulaspidiotus Paraphysis arising from outer angle of L1 mushroom-shaped in appearance; plates fringed and at least as long as Additional online resources aiding in the identification of Aspidiotini are provided by Schneider et al (2019) and Dooley (2006).…”

“…They comprise the largest family of scale insects (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Diaspididae) with over 2600 species in 422 genera (García Morales et al 2016). About onequarter of armored scales belong to the tribe Aspidiotini Westwood, a particularly pestiferous group containing numerous cosmopolitan species (Miller and Davidson 1990;Schneider et al 2019). At present the tribe comprises over 720 species in 88 genera; however, recent phylogenetic evidence has revealed rampant artificiality among these genera (Schneider et al 2018), and their classification is in need of extensive revision.…”

Four new species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Diaspididae, Aspidiotinae) from Panama, with a key to Panamanian species

“…With these records included, 58 species from 18 genera in Aspidiotini are known to occur in Panama, comprising roughly half of the total armored scale fauna for this country (58 out of 118 species reported in ScaleNet) (García Morales et al 2016). The majority of these species are likely native to the Neotropics (Ferris 1941(Ferris , 1942Deitz and Davidson 1986), but many are broadly distributed and are considered major, minor, or potential pests (Miller and Davidson 1990;Schneider et al 2019). Species that are non-native to this region include members of Aspidiella, Aspidiotus, Chrysomphalus, and Selenaspidus, which are widespread pests likely originating from the Australasian, Oriental, and Afrotropical regions (Schneider et al 2018).…”

Electronic identification keys for species with cryptic morphological characters: a feasibility study using some Thesium species

“…These comparative studies indicate that while electronic identification keys such as interactive photographic keys are effective when identifying charismatic species with large and clear morphological characters, they are often ineffective when identifying enigmatic species with cryptic morphological characters. Here cryptic characters (not to be confused with cryptic species) refer to any morphological character which might cause uncertainty or confusion during the identification process due to one or a combination of the following: (1) very small size [e.g., characteristics of leaf margins and venation in mosses ( Stagg et al 2015 ); minute characters of armoured scale insects ( Schneider et al 2019 )], (2) obscure nature [e.g., subtle differences in bud colour of winter trees ( Stagg and Donkin 2017 ); metasternum related characters in some parasitoid wasps ( Klimmek and Baur 2018 )], (3) intra-specific variation [e.g., flower colour variation in the carnivorous plant genus Drosera L. ( Drinkwater 2009 ); pronotum colour variation in ladybirds ( Jouveau et al 2018 )], and (4) complicated structures associated with terminology that is difficult to interpret [e.g., inflorescences of grasses ( Fish et al 2015 ); thorax morphologies of Brazilian sand flies ( Rocha et al 2019 )]. The challenge remains to determine which aspects are critical to produce electronic identification keys that can successfully identify species with cryptic morphological characters.…”