Morphological Study On Four Species Of Felted Scale Insects(Homoptera: Coccoidea: Ericoccoidae)

Following Diaspididae, Pseudococcidae and Coccidae, Eriococcidae is the fourth largest family in Supfamily Coccoidea of Order Homoptera in the number of species. All the felted scale insects feed on plant juice, many of them are noxious pests to forest trees, crops, fruit trees and ornamental plants.In this dissertation, 52 species of 11 genera belonging to 2 subfamilies of Chinese Eriococcidae is listed based on the statistics of published materials.The morphological characters of four species of felted scale insects, i.e. Asiacornococcus kaki Kuwana, Eriococcus costatus Danzig, E. lagerostroemiae Kuwana and E. koelreuterius sp. nov. were elaborately studied and illustrated for each stage. The taxonomic characters for each stage were analyzed. Keys to four species on each stage were also given.A new species of the Genus Eriococcus was found in Beijing on the branches of Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm and namesd as Eriococcus koelreuterius sp. nov.. This new species was similar to Eriococcus armeniacus Tang (1995) in adult female, but can be distinguished from latter by the following characters: 1) antenna in 7-8 (usually in 7) segments, if in 7 segments (the 4th and 5th are united), the length of segment IV is the longest, if in 8 segments, then segment III is the longest; 2) marginal dorsum with 3 spines on each abdominal segment. The type specimens are preserved at Entomological Specimen Room of Beijing Forestry University.Furthermore, the biology of E. koelreuterius sp.nov. was preliminarily observed in Beijing on Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm.. The results show that E. koelreuterius has one generation a year, female overwinters as 2" instar nymph or adult in wax sac and male as pupa in cocoon in crevice,or on bud scale of twigs, or on branch-twig conjoined area of host.