Pseudococcus Westwood, 1840

Tanaka, Hirotaka, Choi, Jinyeong & Kamitani, Satoshi, 2025, Taxonomic review of three species of the genus Pseudococcus Westwood, 1840 (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) found in Okinawa Island, Japan, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 5637 (3), pp. 579-593 : 581

Genus Pseudococcus Westwood, 1840

Pseudococcus Westwood, 1840: 447 . Type species: Dactylopius longispinus Targioni Tozzetti, 1867 . Name number 2188 placed on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology.

Trechocorys Curtis, 1843: 444 . Type species: Coccus adonidum Linnaeus, 1767 .

Boisduvalia Signoret, 1875: 338 . Type species: Coccus laurinus Boisduval, 1867 .

Oudablis Signoret, 1882 : clvii. Replacement name that is a synonym.

Diagnosis (adapted and slightly modified from Williams 2004). Body of adult female usually broadly oval; anal lobe bars absent. Antennae each with 8 (rarely 7) segments. Legs well developed, each claw without denticle; translucent pores frequently present on hind legs. Circulus present or absent. Anterior and posterior ostioles present. Cerarii numbering 12–17 pairs; preocular pair (C 2) always absent. Most cerarii each bearing 2 conical setae, except for those on head and sometimes on thorax, where some with 3–5 conical setae each. Anal lobe cerarii usually set on sclerotized cuticle; most species with all cerarii containing auxiliary setae, but these sometimes absent anterior to penultimate cerarii (C 17). Oral rim tubular ducts usually present on dorsum, if absent, then some present on venter. Oral collar tubular ducts present on venter, often of different sizes. Discoidal pores usually present, sometimes 1 or 2 situated adjacent to rim of each oral rim tubular duct, and sometimes a few present next to each eye. Quinquelocular pores always absent.

Remarks. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of mealybugs by Choi & Lee (2022) and Tanaka et al. (2022) showed that the genus Pseudococcus is non-monophyletic and includes species that belong to several other genera, such as Dysmicoccus Ferris, 1950 ; Palmicultor Williams, 1963 ; Paraputo Laing, 1929 , etc. The current taxonomic definition of Pseudococcus is therefore probably arbitrary. Further molecular and morphological studies on species currently placed in Pseudococcus and related genera are greatly needed, to clarify the genus boundaries.