Gossyparia spuria ( Modeer, 1778 )

Gavrilov-Zimin, I. A. & Kurochkin, A. S., 2019, Millennial zoological mystery of medieval Persian scientists, Zoosystematica Rossica (China) 28 (2), pp. 201-227 : 210-212

Gossyparia spuria ( Modeer, 1778)

(Fig. 10)

Modeer, 1778: 43 ( Coccus ); Cockerell, 1899: 268 ( Gossyparia ); Schrader, 1929: 149 ( Gossyparia ); Borchsenius, 1949: 330 ( Gossyparia ); Schmutterer, 1952: 416 (as G. ulmi ); Ferris, 1955: 164 ( Eriococcus ); Kosztarab & Kozár, 1988: 289 ( Gossyparia ); Kozár et al., 2013: 262 ( Gossyparia ).

Material examined. France: Ile-de-France: Mitry- Mory , VIII. 1974 (A. Courtois leg.), 3 females . Serbia: Brest , on Ulmus campestris , 3.IV.1981 (E. Kozarzhevskaya leg.), 4 females . Poland: Slavuta , on Alnus , 22.VII.1904 (A. Mordvilko leg.), 6 females . Ukraine: Kiev, Botanical Garden of Academy of Sciences, on Ulmus foliacea , 1.X.1958 (collector unknown), 5 female larvae; Sumy Prov.: on Ulmus minor , 28. VI.1960 (E. Tereznikova leg.), 1 female ; Lugansk Prov.: Novo-Pavlovka Vill. , on Ulmus suberosa , 20. VI.1962 (E. Tereznikova leg.), 2 females . Russia: Kaliningrad Prov.: Polessk , on Ulmus pumila , 7. VI.1972 (Ivanova leg.), 3 females ; Lipetsk Prov.: near Manino Vill. , on Ulmus glabra , 6.VII.1997 (I. Gavrilov leg.), 5 females ; Kursk Prov.: Tsentralno-Chernozemny Nature Reserve , on Ulmus sp. , 26. VI.2002 (I. Gavrilov leg.), 2 females ; Volgograd Prov.: “ Gornaia Poliana ”, 1.VIII.1950 (H. Burnascheva leg.), 1 female ; Krasnodar Terr.: Betta Vill. , on Ulmus sp. , 2.VII.1990 (E. Danzig leg.), 2 females ; Temryuk Distr. , on Ulmus sp. , 27. VI.1990 (E. Danzig leg.), 3 females ; Adygeia Republic: Kamennomostskaia Settlm. , on Ulmus sp. , 7. VI.1934 (N. Borchsenius leg.), 1 female ; Stavropol Terr.: Inozemtsevo Settlm. , on Ulmus sp. , 15.VII.1933 (collector unknown), 4 females ; Kislovodsk , 23. V.1957 (collector unknown), 2 females . Crimea : without locality designation, 1929 (N. Borchsenius leg.), 8 females . Armenia: Ayrum , on Ulmus sp. , 11. VI.1947 (N. Borchsenius leg.), 2 females ; Armavir [ Oktemberian ], on Ulmus sp. , 14. V.1949 (M. Ter-Grigorian leg.), 2 females ; Dzhrvezh , on Ulmus sp. , 9.X.1956 ( V. Trjapitzin leg.), 1 female . Kazakhstan: West-Kazakhstan Prov.: near Uralsk , on Ulmus sp. , 16. VI.1950 (Kravets leg.), 9 females . USA: Utah: Manti , on Ulmus sp. , 12.VII.1971 (Q.F. Knowlton leg.), 1 female .

Dried colonies of females from: Austria, Italia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. Three series of females fixed in aceto-ethanol from Bulgaria and European Russia.

Morphological description. Adult female. Body egg-shaped, up to 3 mm wide, red-brown in life, located inside of grey wax sac which opens on dorsum in ovipositing female. 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 outer row of spinulae, incomplete inner row of pores and eight long setae, each about two times as long 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 thorax and anterior abdominal sternites. Oval discoidal pores (“cruciform pores” in some authors) each about 3 µm in diameter, forming marginal band on ventral thorax and anterior abdominal sternites. Macrotubular ducts of two sizes, larger ducts, each about 20–25 µm long and 8 µm wide forming marginal band along all dorsal surface; occasional ducts also present in submedial zone of abdominal tegrites; smaller macrotubular ducts, each about 15 µm long and 5 µm wide, forming transverse rows on abdominal sternites and scattered in submedial, submarginal and marginal zones of venter. Microtubular ducts each about 8 µm long and 1 µm wide, scattered on all dorsal surface of body. Conical setae with more or less blunt apices, each about 20–25 µm long, forming transverse bands on all tergites; largest conical setae (each about 45–55 µm long) present forming marginal row with four setae on each side of each tergite (Fig. 10). 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 was described by Afifi (1968). Description of larvae see in Herbert (1924) and Dziedzicka (1961).

Ontogenesis and mode of life. The ontogenesis is similar with other species, discussed here (Fig. 9). Only obligatory biparental reproduction is possible ( Schrader, 1929). The females are complete ovoviviparous; the oviposited eggs contain fully developed larvae inside. According to Schmutterer (1952) one female produces up to 416 eggs. There is one generation per year overwintering as secundo- or tertiolarvae ( Schrader, 1929; Borchsenius, 1949).

Strictly monophagous on Ulmus spp. Occasional records of this species from other plants, such as Fraxinus , Alnus , Corylus , Salix , and even

Fig. 10. General morphology of Gossyparia spuria ( Russia: Lipetsk Prov.)

from grasses (see ScaleNet, 2019), are probably based on misidentification or occasional migration of non-feeding females from their host plants to the nearby plants for oviposition. Sometimes, females form large colonies significantly damaging their host plants.

Distribution. Originally Palaearctic, but now Holarctic species, widely distributed along natural area of Ulmus spp. in temperate zone of Northern Hemisphere. The species is very common in Azerbaijan ( Arutyunova, 1938; Rusanova, 1941) and Iran ( Borchsenius, 1949; Moghaddam, 2018 and personal communication).