A New Species of the Mealybug Genus Mirococcus (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) from the Cape Verde Islands, with New Records and an Updated Checklist of Scale Insect Species

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In this study, a new mealybug species from the Cape Verde Islands, Mirococcus capeverdensis Łagowska and Hodgson sp. n., collected on Campylanthus glaber Benth. (Scrophulariaceae) is described and illustrated based on the adult female. A key to the mealybugs from the Afrotropical Region that lack cerarii is provided. In addition, seven scale insect species are recorded for the first time from the Cape Verde Islands. An updated checklist of Coccomorpha species from this region, along with their known island distributions and valid sources, is also appended. Prior to this study, 38 scale insect species in 7 families and 28 genera are known from the Cape Verde Islands. ABSTRACT: In this study, a new species of mealybug from the Cape Verde Islands, Mirococcus capeverdensis Łagowska and Hodgson sp. n., collected on Campylanthus glaber Benth. (Scrophulariaceae), a native plant to these islands, is described and illustrated based on the adult female. A taxonomic key to the mealybugs from the Afrotropical Region that lack cerarii is provided. In addition, seven scale insect species, namely Aulacaspis tubercularis Newstead, Hemiberlesia cyanophylli (Signoret), Pseudaonidia trilobitiformis (Green), Icerya aegyptiaca (Douglas), Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green), Palmicultor palmarum (Ehrhorn), and Pseudococcus comstocki (Kuwana) are recorded for the first time from the Cape Verde Islands and an updated checklist of Coccomorpha species known from this region, along with their known island distributions and valid sources, is appended.