58 MISC. PUBLICATION 1015, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Diaprostethus Signoret, 1877, Soc. Ent. de France Ann. (ser. 5) 6: 

 658. 



Presumably this is another variation in the spelling of Diaprosteci Costa. 

 Signoret credited it to Costa and indicated that it should be a synonym of 

 Dactylopius Costa, 1835. 



Diaprostetus Signoret, 1868, Soc. Ent. de France Ann. (ser. 4) 8: 

 842. 



This spelling was presented in the synonymy Signoret included under Coccus 

 adonidum Linnaeus in his preliminary catalogue of the Coccidae. The name was 

 credited to Costa, 1828. 



Diaprostocetus Westwood, 1840, An Introduction to the Modern 

 Classification of Insects 2: 447. 



Westwood credited this name to Costa, another change in the spelling of 

 Diaprosteci. 



Diapsis Targioni-Tozzetti, 1867, Soc. Ital. di Sci. Nat, Mem. 3 (3) : 

 38, 51. 

 A lapsus for Diaspis Costa. 



Diaspidiotus Berlese, 1896, or Berlese and Leonardi, 1896, in Berlese 

 and Leonardi, Eiv. di Patol. Veg. 4 : 350 ; or Leonardi, 1897, Riv. 

 di Patol. Veg. 5 : 375 : 



type-species: Aspidiotus (Diaspidiotus) patavinus Berlese, 1896, by mono- 

 typy; or Diaspis ancylus Putnam, 1877, by subsequent designation of 

 Leonardi, 1898a: 50 (210). 



This genus presents another of the painfully frequent instances of confusion 

 over the early history and actual status of a coccid generic name. Neave, 1939, 

 Nomen. Zool. II : 63, credited the name to Berlese, 1896, in Berlese and Leonardi, 

 1896 : 350. This represented the first known publication of the name, which was 

 presented as "6. Aspidiotus {Diaspidiotus) patavinus Berl. n. sp." This heading 

 was followed by a description of the new species. We have found nothing in the 

 1961 Code of Zoological Nomenclature that would either permit or compel rejec- 

 tion of this publication date and author. Acceptance of this concept, however, 

 repudiates completely the subsequent history of the genus and gives a zoological 

 status other than that currently accepted by many coccid workers. 



In 1897a : 375, Leonardi referred to the "subgenus Diaspidiotus already pro- 

 posed by Prof. Berlese and me" and, in 1898a: 50 (210), in a key, he presented 

 "Diaspidiotus Berl. et Leon., Typus A. ancylus" and repeated the joint author- 

 ship of page 215 of the same paper. Other coccid students of the period, e.g. 

 Cockerell, 1897i : 11, and Newell, 1899: 3-5, also credited the genus to joint 

 authorship. More recent students show variation on assigning authorship and 

 date of publication, where indicated, but pretty consistently accept Diaspis 

 ancylus Putnam, 1877, as the type-species of the genus. This is not possible if 

 the earlier publication date is accepted since Aspidiotus patavinus Berlese, 1896, 

 which is currently placed by European workers as a synonym of Aspidiotus pyri 

 Lichtenstein, must necessarily be accepted as type-species by monotypy. This 

 was discussed by De Lotto, 1963, Ent. Soc. South. Africa Jour. 26: 144-145, who 



