Aleurothrixus, Quaintance & Baker

Martin, Jon H., 2005, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Part 2 - a review of the subfamily Aleyrodinae Westwood, Zootaxa 1098 (1), pp. 1-116 : 20-21

ALEUROTHRIXUS Quaintance & Baker

Aleurothrixus Quaintance & Baker, 1914: 103–104 . Type species Aleyrodes howardi Quaintance 1907: 91–94 , by original designation, a junior synonym of Aleurodes floccosa Maskell, 1896: 432–433 [synonymised by Costa Lima, 1942: 425].

Hempelia Sampson & Drews, 1941: 166 . Type species Hempelia chivelensis , by original designation and monotypy. Syn. nov.

DIAGNOSIS AND COMMENTS. As interpreted here, Aleurothrixus comprises species with the following combination of characters: dorsal disc almost completely separated from wide submarginal area by an often complex, sometimes disjunct fold ( Figs 13–15 ); cephalic setal pair absent but metathoracic, eighth abdominal and caudal submedian setal pairs present, often long and fine; submargin with seven pairs of rather spine­like, often minute, setae in cephalothorax and anterior part of abdomen; abdominal rhachis present ( Figs 13, 15 , 96, 97) or absent ( Figs 14 , 135); vasiform orifice at least as wide as long (often transversely­elliptical), sometimes elevated and prone to distortion when slidemounted, usually fully occupied by operculum; margin with coarse teeth, each with a basal gland (giving rise to the common historical description of the margin having “a double row of teeth”); marginal teeth not, or very slightly, modified at caudal and thoracic tracheal openings; cuticle pale or with variable degree of dark pigmentation.

Sampson & Drews (1941) described a new genus, Hempelia , to accommodate their new species H. chivelensis , using the characters of the vasiform orifice to distinguish Hempelia from Tetraleurodes . However, the glandular marginal teeth, seven pairs of submarginal setae in the anterior half of the body, the broad vasiform orifice and the definition of a particularly broad submarginal area ( Fig. 13 ) are all characters of the genus Aleurothrixus , even though the puparia of most Aleurothrixus species have pale cuticle in contrast to the black puparia of H. chivelensis . However, some Aleurothrixus species have been described with the dorsal disc dark, and even the normally­pale A. floccosus ­group is known to have populations with the dorsal disc darkly pigmented ( Martin, 1999: 51). Hempelia is therefore considered a junior synonym of Aleurothrixus . Puparia in BMNH of Aleurotrachelus myrtifolii Bondar (1923) (probably syntypes, see Martin, 2004:56) are clearly congeners of H. chivelensis , and the species is therefore here transferred to Aleurothrixus (comb. nov.).

There are presently 20 described species accommodated within Aleurothrixus , but A. antidesmae Takahashi (1933) (described from Taiwan) and a small number of similar Asian species, currently included in this genus, are clearly not congeneric with the New World assemblage and may require a new genus to accommodate them.

Three described species of Aleurothrixus have now been recorded from Belize, along with three additional species which are probably undescribed. Belize Aleurothrixus species 1 and 2 are briefly discussed in the comments on A. myrtacei and A. chivelensis respectively, below. Aleurothrixus species 3 has characteristically dagger­shaped eighth abdominal and caudal setae, as depicted for A. aguiari Costa Lima (1942), but the nature of the marginal tooth­base glands is quite different.

Figures

FIGURES 13–16. 13–15, Aleurothrixus spp. 13, A. chivelensis (Sampson & Drews), vacated pupal case, dorsal, simplified drawing; 14, A. myrtacei Bondar, puparium, dorsum, simplified drawing (see Fig. 97 for photograph); 15, A. floccosus (Maskell), puparium, dorsum (see Fig. 96 for photograph); 16, Aleurotrachelus tracheifer (Quaintance), puparium, dorsum, simplified drawing (see Figs 99, 141 for photographs).