SCALE INSECTS (■ COCCID.E ■) OF ArSTHAlJA. 95 



Genus XXXVI. Daclylopius, Costa. 



Fanud (hi Jicyni) ili'Xiijioll Curriiiii/I, \>. I,"). 1^3"). 

 Maskell, Scale In.'ifrts of Xiir Zailainl. p. 90. ISST. 

 Ncwstead, 3Io)>. British Coccirhr. vol. ii. ]). |(>2. I!»(t2. 



This <ieiui,s contains a nuinbci' of cocrids of niodcrati' size. i)o]iiilarly known 

 as '' niealv bugs." Up to tlu' tinu' of egg-laying they are active, oval, 

 flatteneil little creatures with well-develojjed legs and antenna', usually 

 covered with fine white meal or short woolly hlanK'uts. nioic or less hiding 

 the structure and colour of the insect, and frequently foi ining a fringe round 

 the margins. Often swarming over the young foliage in countless numbers, 

 thev congregate together, aborting and twisting U]) the twigs and young 

 foliage by their })rcsence. In the gravid or adult stage they become covered 

 with a mass of cottony secretion, resting upon a jiad. or forming an ovisac 

 after the manner of the members of the genus Pulrivarla. 



Newstead defines the generic characters as follows :-- '" Adult female with 

 eight-jointed antenna\ the last joint being invariably longer than the 

 penultimate (7th). mentum biarticulate ; legs ])ersistent : anal lobes sniall or 

 rudimentarv : anal orifice with six hairs. Male abdomen with two long 

 white caudal filaments: genitalia short, male puparium felted. 



Maskell savs : " Adult female having antenn:e of eight joints, anogenital 

 ring with six liairs. Naked or more or less usually covered with mealy or 

 cottony secretion. Male ])upa enclosed in a cottony sac." 



About fifteen species have been described or recorded from Australia. 

 several of which are cosmopolitan. 



In Mrs. Fernald's catalogue only four species are left in this genus, of 

 which Daciylopns {Coccus) cadi is made the type. All the Australian 

 species are placed in Westwood's genus Pacudococcus, the members of which 

 differ onlv from the coccids in this- grou]) in the ])ossession of nine joints in 

 the antenna'. All the Australian mealy bugs that I have examined or that 

 have been described from Australia have seven or eight joints in their 

 antenna^, with the exception of the tliree placed in Psemhcoccua. while 

 Dactylopiiis lovgispinus. which she makes the ty]ie of Psciidococcns, has only 

 eight joints instead of nine in its antenna'. 1 therefore retain all those with 

 less than nine joints in the antennro in this genus. 



J)acUil<)])iiis acdcirr. Maskell. 

 Trans. X. Zcalaiul Institute, vol. xxiv. p. 3:5. ])1. vi. ti.L's. 1. -)-!(>. IS'Ki. 



This sjiecies infests the twigs and foliage of Acacia liiicans and Alhnzia 

 lopluodha, growing near Melbourne. Victoria. 



Adult female varying in colour from dark purple to dull black. enveloj)ed 

 in white cottonv secretion forming masses on the twigs. Antenna' long, 

 composed of seven joints subecjual, except the seventh, which is longer and 



