A new scale insect of the subtribe diaspidina from south India, with Notes on the subtribe (Sternorrtyncha: Coccoidea: Diaspididae)

Leptodiaspis nigra, n. gen. and n. sp., subtribe Diaspidina, is described on the basis of female specimens collected at the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala, South India, on Cinnamomum malabatrum and C. zeylanicum, Lauraceae. It is peculia for a member of the subtribe in the female test slender and black and in the body of the full-grown adult female elongate fusiform, sclerotized throughout, and clearly partitioned into the prosoma, metathorax,and abdomen, but it is referable to the subtribe in the characters of the pygidium. The‘basic' character pattern composition, and distribution of the subtribe Diaspidina are discussed. Diaspis mihiriya, which was described by Green in 1922 from Sri Lanka, is recognized as a true member of the genus Diaspis and as the only representative of the genus in tropical Asia