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



Fonscolombia Lichtenstein, 1877, Soc. Ent. de France Ann. (Bui. 

 Ent.) (ser. 5) 7:cviii. 



type-species: Fonscolombia graminis Lichtenstein, 1877 (which he believed 

 to be identical with Coccus radicumgraminis Fonscolombe), by original 

 designation and monotypy. 



This is another coccoid genus with a most uncertain background and current 

 status. Aside from the fact that most coccid workers who have mentioned the 

 genus believe that Coccus radicumgraminis Fonscolombe, 1834, generally cited as 

 the type-species, is not today recognizable with certainty, it seems clear to us 

 that the genus, in any zoological sense, must be based on the specimens which 

 Lichtenstein examined and discussed, and which he chose to call Fonscolombia 

 graminis. "We do not know if these specimens exist, or their location if still in- 

 tact. As he based the genus on wingless adult males with secreted caudal fila- 

 ments, a secondary complication to satisfactory placement results. No adequate 

 scheme of coccid classification based on adult males exists today. The status of 

 the genus has been further complicated by the introduction into it of Chermes 

 fraxini Kaltenbach, a coccid species having a quite different habitus than does 

 the type-species. As a result, the Fernald Catalogue, 1903b : 114, for example, 

 placed both Apterococcus Newstead, 1898, and Pseudochermes Nitsche, 1895, as 

 synonyms, but, we believe, wholly without warrant in the existing circumstances. 



Assignments of the genus have been to the Dactylopiidae or Eriococcidae by 

 Ferris, 1957c: 86, and to the Coccidae (str.) by Lindinger, 1943b: 221, as a 

 synonym of Lccanopsis Targioni-Tozzetti, 1868. With respect to this last as- 

 signment, complications again are present. Borchsenius, 1957: 191, said that 

 males are not known for Lecanopsis. An interesting sidelight on this problem 

 is found in the lot number book of Mrs. Anna Botsford Comstock, which we 

 have examined. Under lot 235, Sub 1, is listed a preparation of "Lecanopsis 

 rhizophila ??" received 8 May 1882 from J. Lichtenstein. The specimen involved 

 under this name has been examined and, although a very poor preparation on 

 present-day standards, shows that it is a root-feeding pseudococcid having some, 

 at least, of the characteristics of the genus Cryptoripersia Cockerell as this 

 genus is currently accepted in the United States. The notebook entry also in- 

 cludes this note, evidently a comment by Lichtenstein, in lit. : "Fonscolombia is 

 a synonym of Lecanopsis Targioni, yet it is under observation as I have two 

 males (one winged and one apterous) and only one female, so I keep it in re- 

 serve until I get the whole cycle of life?" From this we conclude that the 

 Lichtenstein concept of Fonscolombia and Lecanopsis actually was pseudococcid. 

 Hoy, 1963, New Zeal. Dept. Sci. and Indus. Res. Bui. 150 : 9, included Fonsco- 

 lombia in the Eriococcidae on the basis that species previously referred to this 

 genus are known to belong in that family. 



It is our present conclusion first, that this generic name is nomenclatorially 

 valid and is available when it can be associated critically with some coccid unit ; 

 second, that the concepts of its zoological identity which have been presented by 

 the more recent coccid workers have not emerged with sufficient consistency or 

 clarity to justify arbitrary proposals for its classificatory assignment; third, 

 that the association and characteristics implied by its assignment in the Fernald 

 Catalogue, 1903b : 114, must be regarded with a question because they actually 

 are based primarily on a second, well-known species that was assigned arbitrarily 

 to this genus. 



