Trialeurodes asplenii ( Maskell, 1890 )

Martin, Jon H. & Camus, Josephine M., 2001, Whiteflies (Sternorrhyncha, Aleyrodidae) colonising ferns (Pteridophyta: Filicopsida), with descriptions of two new Trialeurodes and one new Metabemisia species from south­east Asia, Zootaxa 2, pp. 1-19 : 16

Trialeurodes asplenii ( Maskell, 1890)

DISTRIBUTION. New Zealand.

HOST PLANTS. Aspleniaceae : Asplenium oblongifolium , Asplenium polyodon ; Blechnaceae : Blechnum fluvitale ; Dennstaedtiaceae : Paesia scaberula ; Dicksoniaceae : Dicksonia squarrosa ; Dryopteridaceae : Lastreopsis hispida , Polystichum vestitum ; Gleicheniaceae : Sticherus cunninghamii ; Hymenophyllaceae : Hymenophyllum demissum ; Hymenophyllum sp.; Polypodiaceae : Microsorum pustulatum .

COMMENTS. T. asplenii has hitherto been the only named fern­feeding whitefly species in New Zealand. However, there have been about four different morphological forms observed amongst puparia (R. Henderson / N. Martin, personal communication), one of which exactly matches T. dicksoniae (q.v., below), and it is not certain whether this represents the same sort of intra­specific variation commonly seen in some other Trialeurodes species, such as T. vaporariorum or T. ricini . Certainly this species or species­group has a wide range of fern hosts in New Zealand.