A parasitic insect on a parasitic plant: a new species of the genus Formicoccus Takahashi (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Pseudococcidae) from Ishigaki Island, Japan.

Abstract

A new species of the genus Formicoccus Takahashi (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Pseudococcidae) collected from the holoparasitic plant Balanophorafungosa J. R. & G. Forst (Balanophoraceae), on Ishigaki Island, Japan, is described as Formicoccusyoshinoi Tanaka, sp. nov. based on the morphology of adult females. This species is similar to F.formicarius (1900) and F.erythrinae Williams, 2004, but differs from them by having fewer than six cerarii, and only one type of ventral oral collar tubular duct distributed on the medial area of the posterior abdominal segments. Keys to the Oriental species of the genus Formicoccus are provided.