Palaealeurodicus antidesmae (Corbett) Martin, 2008

Martin, Jon H., 2008, A revision of Aleurodicus Douglas (Sternorrhyncha, Aleyrodidae), with two new genera proposed for palaeotropical natives and an identification guide to world genera of Aleurodicinae, Zootaxa 1835 (1), pp. 1-100 : 47

Palaealeurodicus antidesmae (Corbett) comb. nov.

( Fig. 76 )

Aleurodicus antidesmae Corbett, 1926: 267 . Holotype puparium, Sri Lanka [presumed lost].

DISTRIBUTION. Oriental Region – Sri Lanka.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. 1 first-instar nymph, Ceylon, Pundaluoya, on Antidesma bunius (Euphorbiaceae) (E. E. Green) ( BMNH).

COMMENTS. This species was described from a solitary specimen but this holotype, collected by E. E. Green and illustrated by Corbett ( Fig. 76 ), has not been present in the BMNH collection for at least 30 years (author’s personal observation). An examination of residual leaf material from the original sample, in the BMNH dry collection, resulted in the discovery of a first-instar crawler which almost certainly belongs to the same species and is now the sole known specimen. As described, with only four abdominal pairs of compound pores, puparia of P. antidesmae should be immediately recognisable if collected again.

Figures

FIGURES 73–76. 73, Metaleurodicus essigi (Sampson & Drews) comb. nov., lectotype puparium, Mexico, cephalothoracic plate. 74, M. essigi, lectotype, posterior dorsal detail. 75, M. essigi, lectotype, photomicrograph. 76, Palaealeurodicus antidesmae (Corbett) comb. nov., holotype puparium, Sri Lanka (after Corbett, 1926).