A New trivoltine species ofKerriaTargioni-Tozzetti (Homoptera: Tachardiidae) onSchleichera oleosa(Lour.) Oken from eastern India

Abstract

A new trivoltine lac insect species, Kerria sharda, sp. nov. (Homoptera: Tachardiidae ) infesting Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken is reported from eastern ghat region of Orissa, India. It differs from the closest species K. albizzae (Green), by having marginal ducts numbering 24-30 in each of 6 clusters, subequal branchial and supra-anal plates and 3-4 segmented antennae, as against 10-15 marginal ducts, branchial plate longer than supra anal plate and 2 segmented antennae of albizzae.

Distinction of Indian Commercial Lac Insect Lines of Kerria spp. (Homoptera: Coccoidea) Based on Their Morphometrics

“…Using the morphological characters of adult female K. lacca taken from Chamberlin ( 1923 , 1925 ), Kapur ( 1958 , 1962 ), Varshney ( 1976 , 1985 ), Zhang (1993) , Mishra and Sushil (2000) , Lit and Gullan (2001) , Lit ( 2002a , b ), Kondo and Gullan (2007) , a total of 65 characters were identified for morphometric analyses. A standardization experiment using 30 specimens of each line, in all at a time just before these reach maturity, was undertaken to identify the characters which were most stable and consistent.…”

Genetic variation among species, races, forms and inbred lines of lac insects belonging to the genus Kerria (Homoptera, Tachardiidae)

“…( Kapur, 1962 ; Ramani, 2005 ). Other minor species are K. sharda ( Mishra and Sushil, 2000 ) and K. chinensis. Palas ( Butea monosperma ), ber ( Ziziphus mauritiana ) and kusum ( Schleichera oleosa ) are the most common hosts used for lac production in India ( Roonwal 1962 ), which is mainly restricted to the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, besides a few others ( Pal et al , 2011 ).…”