Aleurotrachelus Quaintance & Baker

Dubey, Anil Kumar & Ko, Chiun-Cheng, 2010, Aleurotrachelus Quaintance & Baker (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and allied genera from Taiwan, Zootaxa 2685, pp. 1-29 : 2-3

Aleurotrachelus Quaintance & Baker

Aleurotrachelus Quaintance & Baker, 1914: 103 . Type species: Aleurodes tracheifer Quaintance, 1900: 38 –39, by original designation.

Luederwaldtiana Hempel, 1922: 1185. Type species: Luederwaldtiana eriosemae , by monotypy. [Synonymised by Martin 2005: 22.]

Diagnosis. Puparia: dark usually brown to black, margin toothed, teeth not, or hardly modified at tracheal openings at margin, the teeth have wax secreting marginal glands at base, often appearing as double row of marginal teeth. A pair of lateral longitudinal folds often present on cephalothorax, usually overlaying the legs, sometimes in the form of dark pigmented area. Rhachis present; often without lateral arms. Eye spots sometimes present. Cephalic, meso-, and metathoracic setae present or absent, eighth abdominal and caudal setae present, first abdominal setae usually represented by much thickened “pseudosetae” placed close to median line ( Martin, 1999); subdorsal setae absent, submarginal setae sometimes present, usually 8 pairs, but almost indistinguishable from row of pores. Vasiform orifice subcircular to subcordate, situated on elevated posterior end of rhachis, usually longer than wide, operculum almost filling the orifice; lingula excluded or obscured by operculum.

Discussion. Quaintance & Baker (1914) diagnosed Aleurotrachelus for black puparia having wax secreting glands at base of marginal teeth and a pair of lateral longitudinal folds. The genus is currently a morphologically diverse assemblage of species, and possibly not a monophyletic group ( Manzari & Quicke, 2006). Currently, 74 species are listed in this genus ( Martin & Mound, 2007), of which only five species are now recognised from Taiwan. Further studies in this genus will assign some Aleurotrachelus species to other genera or form groups within the genus. For instance, the puparia of Aleurotrachelus brazzavillense Bink- Moenen (1983) have eye spots and may group with A. maesae and A. pyracanthae . Although some workers have restricted the genus Aleurotrachelus to black puparia we recognize 2 species with non-black puparia, A. anonae and A. fissistigmae . These two species are considered in Aleurotrachelus due to their elongate shape, rhachisform abdominal segments, toothed or crenulate margin, presence of longitudinal folds, elevated vasiform orifice and glandular bases of marginal teeth (glands sometimes not clear in A. anonae ). Among Taiwanese Aleurotrachelus , A. fissistigmae is instantly distinguished from the congeners by sharply pointed marginal teeth.