First assessment of cryptic species in the gall-inducing scale insect Apiomorpha calycina (Coccomorpha: Eriococcidae).

Torin R. O'Connell (The University of Queensland); Lyn G. Cook (The University of Queensland).

Apiomorpha calycina is a member of the most species-rich, gall-inducing scale insect genus.  Females induce vase-shaped galls on eucalypts in Eucalyptus sections Bisectae, Latoangulatae and Dumaria.  The species was first described by Tepper in 1893 from specimens collected on Eucalyptus dumosa in South Australia, but its distribution is now known to range from NSW, Victoria and South Australia to Western Australia.  Genetic studies of other species of Apiomorpha that occur across multiple eucalypt sections and across such a broad geographic distribution have typically found the presence of cryptic species.  Here, we use DNA sequencing and morphology to assess whether there are cryptic species also present in A. calycina.  In particular, we focus on specimens from Western Australia that have atypical gall morphologies.