4 MISC. PUBLICATION 4 2 4, I". S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



8-shaped pores, and an antenna of distinctive shape, in which the third 

 segment does nol have setae, but does have a narrow, membranous band 

 encircling it. Within this group Asterolecanium and Polea are most 

 alike, the morphological structures and their arrangement being simi- 

 lar except that adult females and third-stage males of Polea lack the 

 marginal row of 8-shaped pores characteristic of these stages of 

 Asterolecanium, and adult males of Polea differ somewhat from those 

 of Asterolecanium*. Adult females of Asti rolt canium may be separated 

 from other genera of Asterolecaniinae by the following key : 



Key in ('<< m i a of tin Subfamily istt rolecaniinae 



1. Apex of abdomen protruding; anal lobes strongly developed; with a 



caudn Amelococcus, Cerococcus, Solenococous, OUiflla. 



Apex of abdomen protruding or not : anal Lobes not ><• strongly developed; 

 without a cauda 2 



2. Posterior margin of body with a narrow, fairly deep median cleft: cribri- 



form plates present Inomalococcus, Birchippia, Lecaniodiaspis. 



Posterior margin of body without such a deft : cribriform plates absenl 3 



3. Dorsal surface with a median longitudinal band of quinquelocular and 



minute 8-shaped purrs extending from anterior margin t" anal open- 

 ing Cullococeus. 



Dorsal surface without such a hand of pores 4 



4. Margin of body without a well defined row of comparatively large 8-shaped 



pores Imorphococcus, French in, Polea. 



Margin of body with a well defined row of comparatively large B-shaped 

 pores Asterolecanium. 



GENERIC SYNONYMY 



The genus Asterolecanium was established by Targioni-Tozzetti in 

 1869 (96, />. i-i'i). and it> type designated a- ('onus aureus Boisduval. 

 The correct name for the type of the genus now appears to be epi- 

 dendri (Bouche), because aureus is here considered a synonym of 

 ( phi* ndri ( see discussion, p. 84). 



PUnchonia, proposed by Signorel in 1*70 (88, pp. '-: 383) for 

 Coccus pmbriatus Fonscolombe, has long been considered a synonym 

 of A ' anium, and i- so regarded in this paper. 



In 1876 Signoret erected Asterodiaspis (89, pp. 606 607) (90, pp. 

 ccvui^-ccios) for specimens which lie believed were Coccus guercicola 

 Bouche. The name lias long stood as a synonym of Asterolecanium* 

 and the writer's study of Signoret's description -and specimens shows 

 that Asterodiaspis has no generic validity, and that the inserts on 

 which Signoret based the genus were misidentified (see p. l<i<)). 



The name Bambusaspis was sno-oested by Cockerel] in 1902 (23, 

 p. 114) as a new section of Asterolecanium, and in 1<>06 (83, p. 3) 

 Sanders desio^iated Chermes miliaris Boisduval as its type. Cock- 

 erell included miliaris, bambusae, delicatum, solenophorotdes, palmae, 

 and uriehi in the subo-enus, and characterized it as follows: "scale 

 elongated, often very narrow: living on bamboos and palms in the 

 tropics." Because the writer does not think the shape of these spe- 

 cies, or morphological differences between them and related forms, 

 warrants their segregation in a suboemis, Bambusaspis is suppressed. 



This study of the classification of the genus Asterolecanhim has 

 not, in the writer's opinion, produced any clear basis for seoivojatino; 

 the included species into formal groups, such as subgenera. The 

 most striking <rroup characteristic that has been observed is the 

 pair of dorsal tubes, present with and apparently restricted to the 



