58 MORPHOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF ADULT MALES 



to width of the penial sheath or the genital capsule ; the length of the genital 

 segment to the total length of the body ; the shape of the style ; the presence or 

 absence of the process of the penial sheath. 



Classification of Pseudococcidae 



It is apparent that the material was of necessity, rather limited and unevenly 

 representative. Nevertheless, it was possible to obtain some interesting results 

 concerning suprageneric classification, although this division is purely tentative 

 and some of the proposed groups of genera may be subject to further subdivision, 

 expansion or any other modification that future findings may demand. Careful 

 examination of table I showed that the studied species of Pseudococcidae could be 

 divided, on the basis of the different conditions of 58 characters, into 6 distinct 

 groups of genera. Some of these groups contain several genera (each represented 

 by one or more species), and the characters shared within each of these groups were 

 taken as an indication of the suprageneric level of significance of these characters. 

 In other instances a single genus (even if represented by one species only) was 

 found by comparison to be distinct enough to constitute the nucleus of a separate 

 suprageneric taxon. The six groups of genera, therefore, are not evenly represented ; 

 one group contains six genera, two groups two genera each, and the remaining three 

 groups consist of only one genus each. In addition, the published descriptions of 

 Puto yuccae and Rhizoecus falcifer, though incomplete for detailed comparison with 

 the present data, would certainly suggest two other groups of genera. The actual 

 status and rank of all the recognized groups will be discussed later. 



The 58 selected characters are listed in table III, which also shows their distribu- 

 tion among the groups. It will be noticed that alternative conditions of a few 

 characters sometimes occur in the same group (thus only separating genera), but 

 which separate the other groups. Bold characters indicate their exclusive 

 conditions for a particular group of genera ; the total number of exclusive 

 characters for each group is given at the end of the table. 



Table III. 

 Characters separating groups of genera of Pseudococcidae 











Groups 











Piano- 



Pseudo- 



Sacchari- Octo- 



Cero- 



Nairo 



Characters 





coccus 



coccus 



coccus coccus 



puto 



bia 







(1) 



(2) 



(3) (4) 



(5) 



(6) 



(1) Absent. 



(2) Present. 



2 



2 



2 2 



2 



1 



Disc pores 



Fleshy setae : (1) Absent on the body 

 itself. (2) Present on the head, 

 thorax and abdomen, giving the body 

 a distinctive hairy appearance. 



