Aleurodicus chirripoensis, 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 : 23-24

Aleurodicus chirripoensis sp. nov.

(Figs 17, 18, 37–40, 133)

PUPARIUM. Habitus. Developing in distinct groups under leaves, with rather sparse waxy secretions (Fig. 133) limited to a peripheral annulus and a dusting of dorsal meal, with brownish subdorsal bars visible where puparial surface is visible through the meal; broken filaments from the large compound pores visible on the leaf surface. Morphology. Most characters are shared with A. talamancensis (q.v.) and only differences are described below. Outline. 1.37–1.57 mm long, 0.97–1.17 mm wide, generally widest at abdominal segment I/II (n=26). Dorsum. Raised areas on abdominal segments VII and VIII (Fig. 37) broader and less well defined than in A. talamancensis , with caudal furrow therefore less evident; submedian abdominal depressions more distinct, with 2–3 contiguous pits on each side of submedian area (Fig. 39); abdominal segment VI/VII division marked medially by a distinct suture-like fold; cephalic pair and anterior 4 pairs of abdominal compound pores up to 65 µ maximum diameter; rim of vasiform orifice (Fig. 37) a little less sharply defined; operculum almost completely occupying vasiform orifice, surface punctate and with longitudinal and transverse rugae, its posterior edge not conspicuously emarginate, often slightly convex; clusters of surface spinules on lingula head more clearly defined (Fig. 38); largest of the dorsal disc bright simple pores apparently each with a fine transverse septum; usually more simple pores present in vicinity of each compound pore, the most numerous clusters typically on abdominal segment VII and cephalic segment, with up to 10 pores (Figs 37).

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Holotype puparium, COSTA RICA, San José Province, Cerro Chirripó, 2600– 2800 metres, on? Maxillaria sp. (Orchidaceae) , 17.ii.1983 (J H Martin #3873) ( BMNH); Paratypes: 49 puparia (of which 13 on leaf tissue in alcohol), 10 third-instar nymphs, 1 second-instar nymph, same data as holotype ( BMNH, INBio, USNM).

ETYMOLOGY. This species is named for its collecting locality, the mid-montane slopes of Cerro Chirripó which, at 3820-metres, is the highest mountain peak in Central America.

COMMENTS. Many of the observed differences between puparia of A. chirripoensis and A. talamancensis were earlier ( Martin, 2005) considered likely to be a result of size variation in A. talamancensis alone, and the material listed above was provisionally determined as A. talamancensis , but was not given paratype status because doubt did remain. However, the size range of the orchid-feeding specimens from Cerro Chirripó does not overlap the size range of all the examined specimens of A. talamancensis , including coconut-feeding material from Ecuador not available at the time of describing A. talamancensis . Along with larger overall puparial size, specimens of A. chirripoensis have their large compound pores almost twice the diameter (up to 65µ) of those in puparia of A. talamancensis (about 30–40 µ), and there are greater numbers of dorsal disc simple pores in the Cerro Chirripó sample; also, the posterior edge of the operculum is markedly emarginate in A. talamancensis , but not so in A. chirripoensis which also has a less clearly defined caudal furrow. These differences are not, now, considered to be merely artifacts of differing physical size and the montane orchidfeeding specimens from Cerro Chirripó are regarded as a distinct species.

The author recently described A. niveus and A. rugioperculatus from Belize ( Martin, 2004), and these share with chirripoensis the characteristically rugose operculum that occupies most of the vasiform orifice, the robust and often-pigmented puparial cuticle, and the possession of submarginal simple pores of only one type. However, both A. niveus and A. rugioperculatus have a much wider submarginal pore band than do A. talamancensis and A. chirripoensis , and neither A. niveus nor A. rugioperculatus possesses lingular spinules arranged in clusters. A. niveus (like A. chirripoensis an orchid-feeding species) is characterised by its lingular apex being developed into an acute, usually bifid, process, and also by the inner boundary of its very wide submarginal zone of simple pores being concentric with its puparial margin. A. rugioperculatus , from coconut palms and unidentified broad-leaved hosts, has its entire lingula head acute-triangular, and the inner boundary of its submarginal band of simple pores lobe-like.