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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #385132
Research Project: Systematics of Hemiptera: Plant Pests, Predators, and Disease Vectors

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

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

Author
item WEI, JIUFENG - Agricultural University Of China
item Schneider, Scott
item NORMARK, ROXANNA - University Of Massachusetts, Amherst
item NORMARK, BENJAMIN - University Of Massachusetts, Amherst

Submitted to: ZooKeys
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/4/2021
Publication Date: 6/24/2021
Citation: Wei, J., Schneider, S.A., Normark, R.D., Normark, B.B. 2021. Four new species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera: Diaspididae: Aspidiotinae) from Panama, with a key to Panamanian species. ZooKeys. 1047:1-25. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1047.68409.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1047.68409

Interpretive Summary: Armored scale insects are ubiquitous, highly invasive herbivores that often become pests on trees, shrubs, and ornamentals. They are estimated to cause billions of dollars in agricultural damage annually. This article describes four new species of Aspidiotini armored scales from Panama, and provides an identification guide to all species belonging in this group from Panama. This reference serves as a valuable regional identification guide to a faunal group that is understudied in Central America. The information presented in this article is useful to systematists, ecologists, and other scientists studying the fauna of Central American scale insects and to federal regulatory agencies and port identifiers worldwide.

Technical Abstract: Four new species of armored scale insect, Clavaspis selvatica sp. n., Clavaspis virolae sp. n., Davidsonaspis tovomitae sp. n., and Rungaspis neotropicalis sp. n., are described and illustrated from Panama. We also transfer two previously described species of Panamanian Aspidiotini to new genera, Hemiberlesia crescentiae (Ferris) comb. n. and Rungaspis rigida (Ferris) comb. n., and report the first record of Selenaspidopsis browni Nakahara in Panama. A key to the species of Aspidiotini occurring in Panama is provided.