Tillancoccus Ben-Dov, 1989

Hodgson, Chris, 2025, A new species of the soft scale insect genus Tillancoccus Ben-Dov (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) on coconut palm in Trinidad, Zootaxa 5637 (1), pp. 175-179 : 175-176

Tillancoccus Ben-Dov, 1989 .

Type species: Tillancoccus tillandsiae Ben-Dov 1989 .

Generic diagnosis. Body of adult female almost circular; dorsum becoming sclerotised and slightly convex at maturity. Anal cleft fused. Dorsal setae robust and either lanceolate or conical. Dorsal setae set in radial lines, with either 19 or 25 lines around body. Preopercular pores distinct, present in a medial band or in small groups extending from anal plates to thorax. Other dorsal pores of possibly two types present, one a microduct. Dorsal tubular ducts absent. Submarginal tubercles present or absent. Anal plates about as long as their combined widths, each plate with a discal seta. Anogenital fold with 2 setae on anterior margin and 6 or 7 on each lateral margin. Marginal setae either slender and pointed or of two sizes, one capitate. Each stigmatic cleft with 3 stigmatic spines, one much longer than other two. Ventral microducts minute, frequent, probably present throughout. Multilocular disc-pores with mainly either 6, 7 or 10 loculi, present in a large group on either side of genital opening. Spiracular disc-pores with 3-6 loculi in a narrow band between each spiracle and margin. Ventral tubular ducts absent. Antennae well developed, with 6 or 8 segments. Legs well developed; tibio-tarsal segmentation obscure or absent; tarsal digitules both narrow; claw digitules broader than tarsal digitules; claw without a denticle.

Note. Caballero et al. (2017), when describing their new species T. koreguajae , state that it has 2 types of dorsal setae and 2 types of marginal setae. This is likely to be incorrect. Tillancoccus tillandsiae Ben-Dov and T. mexicanus Ben-Dov , do not have these setae and nor does the new species described below. The ventral setae on the new species come close to the margin but are definitely all ventral and there are no small setose setae on the dorsum or on the actual margin. It is here considered likely that T. koreguajae is the same and that the setae described by Caballero et al. are in fact all ventral but appear to be dorsal because the specimen is very flattened. It is notable that, in Caballero et al. ’s description, the size of all these setae is the same. Caballero et al. also suggested (their Table 1) that dorsal and ventral microducts are absent from T. tillandsiae and T. mexicanus but, in fact, they are present (see Ben-Dov 1989 and Hodgson 1994 - although these two latter authors only reported one type of dorsal pore).