Cryptococcus fagisuga Lindinger, 1936 (Hemiptera, Cryptococcidae) confirmed from Norway

Abstract

The knowledge of the scale insects (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha) in Norway is very poor compared to our neighbouring countries. The latest checklist was compiled by Fjelddalen (1996), who lists and comments on the biology and distribution of 36 species of scales found in Norway (including greenhouse species). The scale family Cryptococcidae consist of two genera; Cryptococcus Douglas, 1890 and Pseudochermes Nitsche, 1895. There are only eight species in this family worldwide (García Morales et al. 2016). Pseudochermes fraxini (Kaltenbach, 1860) was first reported from Norway by Schøyen (1930). This is the only record of this species in Norway, and P. fraxini is the only other representative of the family Cryptococcidae reported from Norway. Regarding Cryptococcus fagisuga Lindinger, 1936 in Norway, the status has been somewhat unclear. Cryptococcus fagisuga (syn. Cryptococcus fagi (Baerensprung, 1849)) was never listed by Fjelddalen (1996) even though the species probably already was present in the Norwegian fauna at the time. It is neither listed from Norway in García Morales et al. (2016), Burckhardt (2017) or CABI (2021). We here present new records for this species and discuss its history in Norway. Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Cryptococcidae, Cryptococcus fagisuga, Norway