Acanthococcus spiraeae Borchsenius, 1949

Gavrilov-Zimin, I. A. & Kurochkin, A. S., 2019, Millennial zoological mystery of medieval Persian scientists, Zoosystematica Rossica (China) 28 (2), pp. 201-227 : 219-223

Acanthococcus spiraeae Borchsenius, 1949

(Figs 15–18)

Borchsenius, 1949: 348. Kozár et al., 2013: 163.

= Acanthococcus altaicus Matesova, 1967: 1193, syn.

nov. Kozár et al., 2013: 87.

Material examined. Lectotype and 2 paralectotypes (on the same slide) of A. spiraeae : females, Georgia: Tbilisi, on twigs of Spirea hypericifolia , 17.VII.1934, (N. Borchsenius leg.). Holotype and 5 paratypes (all on separate slides) of A. altaicus : females, Kazakhstan: Eastern Kazakhstan Prov.: Ubinski Ridge near Orlovka Vill., on Salix sp. , 08. VI.1961 (G. Matesova & T. Makarov leg.).

Other material. Russia: Irkutsk Prov.: Bolshoy Lug Settlm., moss bog, on Salix sp. , 16.VII.1970, 3 females, on Betula sp. 10.VII.1970, 4 females, on Betula nana , 20.VII.1970, 2 females (E. Danzig leg.); Kyngorgi Riv. valley, 7 km upstream from Arshan, on Salix sp. , 26.VII.1970 (E. Danzig leg.), 5 females; Yakutia : Vitim Settlm., 25. VI.1961 (collector unknown), 2 females; Fig. 15. Young females of Acanthococcus spiraeae on twig of Spiraea hypericifolia (Kazakhstan: Turkestan Prov.).

a b

Fig. 16. Females of Acanthococcus spiraeae on twig of Spiraea hypericifolia ( Kazakhstan: Turkestan Prov.). a, older females inside of wax ovisacs; b, crushed female demonstrating purple pigment of body.

Verkhoiansk , on Spiraea salicifolia , 24.VII.1974 (E. Danzig leg.), 2 females ; Khaptagay Settlm. , on Spiraea salicifolia , 28,29. VI.1974, 2.VII.1974 (E. Danzig leg.), 10 females . Georgia : Tbilisi, 17.VII.1934 (N. Borchsenius leg.), 3 females . Kazakhstan: Alma-Ata Prov. : near lake Issyk, on Spiraea sp. , 12.VII.1936 (collector unknown), 3 females ; Talgar Reserve , on Spiraea sp. , 12.IX.1969 (E. Danzig leg.), 5 females ; Semipalatinsk Prov. : near Kenderlyk, on Spiraea sp. , 5. VI.1954 (Matesova leg.), 4 females ; Kostanay Prov. : 10 km N of Nikitinka, on Spiraea sp. , 7. VI.1971 (E. Danzig leg.), 3 females ; K 1497, Turkestan Prov. , 42°10´00.2´´N, 70°24´58.8´´E, Western Tian Shan Mts , Ugam Range (1940 m altitude), Sayram-Ugam National Park, valley of Sazanata Riv., on branches and twigs of Spiraea hypericifolia , 31. V.2018 (A.S Kurochkin leg.), 4 females ; K 1500, the same data, but 42°09´59.5´´N, 70°25´07.9´´E, 1946 m altitude, 2 females . Uzbekistan: 5 km N Khumsan , 14. V.1963 (E. Sugoniaev leg.), 3 females ; 20 km N Khumsan , 18. V.1963 (E. Sugoniaev leg.), 1 female . Mongolia: 10 km W Tariat , 22. VI.1975 (E. Sugoniaev leg.), 3 females .

Two series of females in ethanol from Russia and Georgia. Two large series of females from Kazakhstan (K 1497 and K 1500) fixed in aceto-ethanol. Dried colonies of females from: Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia.

Morphological description. Adult female. Body egg-shaped, up to 2.5 mm long, intense red in life, located inside of grey wax sac which totally covers female and oviposited eggs. Antennae 6–7-segmented, each about 250 µm long. Legs with all segments normally developed, without translucent pores; claw with denticle; claw digitules with clavate apices. Anal apparatus with out- er row of spinulae, incomplete inner row of pores and eight long setae, each about two times s long Fig. 17. General morphology of Acanthococcus spiraeae ( Kazakhstan: Turkestan Prov.).

as diameter of anal ring. Multilocular pores absent. Quinquelocular pores, each about 5 µm in diameter, scattered on all ventral surface of body, excluding marginal zone of ventral head, thorax and anterior abdominal sternites. Oval discoidal pores (“cruciform pores” in some authors) each about 3 µm in diameter, forming marginal band on ventral head, thorax and anterior abdominal sternites. Macrotubular ducts of three sizes: larg- er ducts, each about 25 µm long and 8 µm wide forming transverse rows on dorsum; mid-sized ducts each about 25 µm long and 5–7 µm wide, forming marginal band on venter and transverse rows on five posterior abdominal sternites; small- er macrotubular ducts, each about 15 µm long and 2–3 µm wide, forming transverse rows on II–VII abdominal sternites. Microtubular ducts each about 8 µm long and 1 µm wide, scattered on all dorsal surface of body. Conical setae with more or less pointed apices, each about 15–30 µm long, forming transverse rows or bands on tergites and band along margin of dorsum; largest conical setae (each about 40–50 µm long) present pairwise on each margin of each tergite and along midline (Fig. 17). Flagellate setae of different sizes forming transverse rows on abdominal sternites and sparsely present on ventral surface of thorax and head. Numerous minute cuticular tubercles covering all dorsal surface of body.

Morphology of adult males and larvae unknown.

Taxonomic note. Matesova (1967) did not compare A. altaicus with earlier described A. spiraeae . During our study of the type material of both these nominal species and numerous additional specimens, collected in different regions and iden- Fig. 18. Collecting locality of Acanthococcus spiraeae ( Kazakhstan: Turkestan Prov.: Western Tian Shan Mts., Ugam Range, about 1940 m altitude).

tified by previous authors as A. altaicus or A. spiraeae , we were unable to find any distinct differences between them. In the result we consider A. altaicus as a new junior synonym of A. spiraeae .

Kozár et al. (2013) incorrectly figured macrotubular ducts in medial/submedial zone of thoracic sternites of A. altaicus , whereas the absence of these ducts in this zone is one of the diagnostic characters noted in the original description of A. altaicus . The ducts in this zone are absent in all type and non-type specimens of A. spiraeae (= A. altaicus ), studied by us.

Ontogenesis and mode of life. The ontogenesis is similar with other species, discussed here (Fig. 9). One female produces 76– 116 eggs in late May-early June ( Matesova, 1967 and present data).

Females and larvae inhabiting branches and stems (Figs 15–16) of different species of Spiraea , Betula , Salix . On Salix spp. in Kazakhstan females form large dense colonies.

Matesova (1967) reported a peculiar symbiosis of Acanthococcus spiraeae (= A. altaicus ) with the aphid Phylloxerina salicis (Lichtenstein, 1884) (Aphidinea: Adelgoidea: Phylloxeridae ). The aphid female is about three times smaller than the female of A. spiraeae and located under the last inside of the shared wax ovisac. Phenology of both the aphid and the felt scale is very similar and even the oviposition is started in the same time; the eggs of the aphid are smaller and lie in the was sac just under the eggs of the felt scale. Sometimes two aphid females may present in one ovisac with a female of A. spiraeae , whereas about 19 % of the felt scale females in the population lack symbiotic aphids at all.

Distribution. Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia (Irkutsk Prov., Yakutia ), (Turkestan Prov., Eastern Kazakhstan Prov.), and Mongolia.

Summarising all available data on the six species of felt scales reviewed above we can presume that three of them, Gossyparia salicicola , Acanthococcus salicis and A. spiraeae could be the most probable source of red dye, associated with Salix spp. in Western and Central Asia. Three oth- er species are less suitable due to different reasons. Both Acanthococcus aceris and Gossyparia spuria associated primary with other host plants and the occasional reports from Salix spp. are dubious; moreover, Acanthococcus aceris usually does not form large female colonies, which are suitable for applied collecting. The last species, A. populi , has a very local distribution in Alma-Ata Province, Eastern Kazakhstan. The only other record of this species from the other locality, Tibet ( Tang & Hao, 1995), needs additional verification, because at the time of that publication, there was no general review or key for Asiatic Acanthococcus spp. available, and it was easy to mix A. populi with other similar species during identification.