Eriopeltis festucae (Boyer de Fonscolombe)

(Fig. 22, Plate 2F, distribution map Fig. 90C)

Coccus festucae Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1834: 216 . Eriopeltis festucae (Boyer de Fonscolombe); Signoret 1872b: 430.

Field characteristics: Live adult female very elongate, flattened, and completely concealed within a long, felt-like cottony white ovisac.

Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female body oval, without stigmatic clefts; anal cleft very shallow, about same length as anal plates.

Dorsum. Derm of young adult female membranous. Large truncate-conical setae abundant over entire surface except for a narrow mid-dorsal strip. Pores of 2 types, both present throughout: (i) a heavily sclerotized circular-tooval bilocular pore, abundant; and (ii) a smaller, simple pore. Preopercular pores circular, slightly convex, present in a median row extending anteriorly from anal plates to about dorsad to antennae. Duct tubercles absent. Tubular ducts, each with a terminal gland, present throughout except for narrow mid-dorsal strip. Anal plates together quadrate, each plate with long terminal seta (not shown) and 5 shorter setae. Anal ring bearing 8–10 long setae.

Margin. Marginal setae truncate-conical, similar to smaller dorsal truncate-conical setae on either side of anal plates and cleft; each side with 8–21 truncate-conical marginal setae between anterior and posterior stigmatic areas. Stigmatic clefts absent; stigmatic setae not differentiated from marginal setae.

Venter. Derm membranous. Pregenital disc-pores each with 10 or 11 loculi, present around anogenital fold and anteriorly on preceding abdominal segments; with a few on abdominal segment II. Spiracular disc-pores each with 5 loculi, present in a band between each spiracle and margin. Microducts abundant throughout. Ventral tubular ducts of 2 or 3 types, differing in shape of inner ductule but all ending in terminal glands (Fig. 22). A few small setae present on 1 or 2 pregenital segments, and 1 pair of small spine-like setae present between antennal bases. Legs very small for size of body, each with only a pseudo-articulation between tibia and tarsus; claw lacking a denticle; claw digitules setose, lacking a dilated apex; tarsal digitules longer than claw digitules. Antennae very small for size of body, each with 8 ring-like segments.

Distribution: Eriopeltis festucae is known from 39 countries in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions (García Morales et al. 2016); in Iran, it is found in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari, Ghazvin, Hamadan, Khorasan –e Razavi, Markazi, Semnan and Zanjan provinces (Moghaddam 2013).

Host-plants: The species has been recorded on host-plants in 22 genera, almost all belonging to Poaceae but there is one record from Cyperaceae (García Morales et al. 2016) . In Iran, it has only been found on wild species of Poaceae (Bodenheimer 1944b) .

Economic importance: The scale is widespread in Iran, but there have not been any records of economic damage.

Natural enemies: None recorded in Iran.