A systematic study of Peliococcus Borchsenius (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae), with descriptions of a new Palaearctic genus and four new species from Turkey.

Within the Phenacoccinae (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae), there are four nominal genera that include species with clusters or groups of multilocular disc pores and/or oral collar tubular ducts of more than one size, namely Peliococcus Borchsenius (= Spinococcus Borchsenius and Eupeliococcus Săvescu), Peliococcopsis Borchsenius, Erimococcus Ezzat, and Seyneria Goux. This study analysed molecular data (from the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I, COI, and a fragment of the D2 and D3 regions of the large subunit ribosomal DNA gene, 28S) from Palaearctic species of Peliococcus, Peliococcopsis and a new genus, Pelionella Kaydan to demonstrate: (i) that Peliococcus and several morphologically similar genera do not form a monophyletic group; (ii) Peliococcus, as currently understood, is not monophyletic, and (iii) the structure of the multilocular disc pores is important for recognising the systematic position of these genera. The morphological data were fitted to the molecular tree to allow reassessment of the generic classification and to produce morphological diagnoses of the genera. Five species have been moved to the genus Erimococcus Ezzat: Peliococcus kimmericus Kiritchenko, P. montanus Bazarov & Babaeva, P. multitubulatus (Danzig), P. salviae Hadzibejli and P. talhouki Matille-Ferrero, as E. kimmericus (Kiritchenko) comb. nov., E. montanus (Bazarov & Babaeva) comb. nov., E. multitubulatus (Danzig) comb. nov., E. salviae (Hadzibejli) comb.nov. and E. talhouki (Matille-Ferrero) comb. nov. In addition, a new species of Erimococcus is described, namely Erimococcus ozani Kaydan sp. nov. Also Peliococcus ilamicus Moghaddam syn. nov. is recognised as a junior synonym of Phenacoccus kimmericus Kiritchenko (previously in Peliococcus, now in Erimococcus). A new genus, Pelionella gen. nov. is introduced to take nine species, namely Peliococcus balteatus Green, P. cycliger Leonardi, P. manifectus Borchsenius, P. stellarocheae Goux, P. glandulifer Borchsenius, P. tritubulatus Kritchenko, P. sablius Goux, P. grassianus Goux, P. proeminens Goux, as Pelionella balteata (Green) comb. nov., Pelionella cycliger (Leonardi) comb. nov., Pelionella manifecta (Borchsenius) comb. nov., Pelionella stellarocheae (Goux) comb. nov., Pelionella glandulifer (Borchsenius) comb. nov., Pelionella tritubulata (Kritchenko) comb. nov., Pelionella sablia (Goux) comb. nov., Pelionella grassiana (Goux) comb. nov. and Pelionella proeminens (Goux) comb. nov. In addition, two species are described as new: Pelionella multipora Kaydan sp. nov. and Pelionella kansui Kaydan sp. nov. Three species, namely Peliococcus daganiae (Bodenheimer), P. orientalis Bazarov and Spinococcus giuliae Pellizzari, are transferred to Phenacoccus as: Phenacoccus daganiae (Bodenheimer), comb. nov., Phenacoccus orientalis (Bazarov), comb. nov. and Phenacoccus giuliae (Pellizzari), comb. nov. Three new species synonymies are recognised: Peliococcus deserticola Ben-Dov & Gerson syn. nov. of Peliococcus cycliger Leonardi (now Pelionella cycliger), Peliococcus albertaccius Goux syn. nov. of Peliococcus manifectus Borchsenius (now Pelionella manifecta) and Peliococcus lycicola Tang syn. nov. is recognised as a junior synonym of Peliococcus chersonensis Kiritshenko. In addition, a new Peliococcus species is described, namely Peliococcus agriensis Kaydan sp. nov.