Siphoninus Silvestri, 1915

Hernández-Suárez, Estrella, Martin, Jon H., Gill, Raymond J., Bedford, Ian D., Malumphy, Christopher P., Betancort, J. Alfredo Reyes & Carnero, Aurelio, 2012, 3212, Zootaxa 3212, pp. 1-76 : 27

Genus Siphoninus Silvestri

Siphoninus Silvestri, 1915: 245 . Type species: Siphoninus finitimus Silvestri, 1915 , by original designation.

Comments. Siphoninus is principally characterised as follows: puparial dorsal surface with several rows of glandular structures termed siphons; vasiform orifice is not elevated and its floor is strongly ridged; operculum is small and lingula tip is exposed, operculum and lingula together filling about half of vasiform orifice; caudal tracheal comb present but thoracic combs absent. Four species are currently included— S. finitimus Silvestri, 1915: 247 described from Olea chrysophylla in Eritrea; S. gruveli Cohic, 1968: 50 described from Combretum glutinosum in Chad; S. immaculatus ( Heeger, 1856: 33) described from Hedera helix in Germany and S. phillyreae ( Haliday, 1835: 119) described from Phillyrea latifolia in Ireland. It should be noted that the whereabouts of type material of S. finitimus , S. immaculatus and S. phillyreae is unknown and the conclusions that follow are based upon descriptions and non-type material in BMNH.

In the field, Siphoninus colonies are easily recognised by the presence of elongate siphons on the puparial dorsum, usually visible with a good hand lens. Colonies are found in crowded groups under host leaves, covered by a fine layer of powdery white wax.