A revision of the Neotropical scale insect genus Protortonia Townsend (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Monophlebidae: Llaveiini)

Abstract

Scale insects of the genus Protortonia Townsend (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Monophlebidae: Llaveiini) are restricted to Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America, and are rarely collected. We provide keys to the tribe Llaveiini and to species of Protortonia based on adult females and available nymphal instars. We transfer Marchalina azteca Ferris to Protortonia as P. azteca (Ferris) comb. nov. We revise the genus based on all available instars, redescribe six species - P. azteca from Mexico, P. cacti (L.) from Puerto Rico, P. crotonis Reyne from the Netherlands Antilles, P. ecuadorensis Foldi from Ecuador and Colombia, P. navesi from Brazil and P. primitiva (Townsend) from Mexico, and describe one new species, P. quernea sp. nov. from Costa Rica. We designate a lectotype for M. azteca and Ortonia primitiva Townsend. We also synonymise Ecuadortonia Ben-Dov with Laurencella Foldi and transfer Ortonia uhleri Signoret to Laurencella as L. uhleri (Signoret) comb. nov. Show more