Ceraleurodicus varus (Bondar)

John H. Martin, 2004, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). Part 1 — introduction and account of the subfamily Aleurodicinae Quaintance & Baker, Zootaxa 681, pp. 1-86 : 38-39

Ceraleurodicus varus (Bondar)

( Figs 20, 82–83, 114)

Radialeurodicus varus Bondar, 1928: 1 –3. Syntypes, Brazil [examined]. Ceraleurodicus varus ( Bondar) Costa Lima, 1928 : 137 [by inference].

Parudamoselis kesselyaki Visnya, 1941: 5 –12. Syntypes, Hungary (under glass) [examined]. [Synonymised by Martin et al., 2000: 442.]

DISTRIBUTION. Neotropical Region — Belize, Brazil.

COMMENTS. When Visnya (1941) described this species, under the name Parudamoselis kesselyaki , from Hungarian glasshouse colonies he used the adjective “gigantic” in the paper’s title. This was no exaggeration, C. varus and some other Ceraleurodicus species being amongst the largest known whiteflies. The series of 14 puparia of C. varus found in Belize measure 3.45–3.90 mm in length (Visnya recorded the puparial length attaining 4.3 mm), each of them extremely asymmetrical, “banana”­shaped ( Figs 20, 114), the flatter side always parallel­contiguous with a major leaf vein (see also description of C. keris , above). Compound pores are unpaired, very small (the cephalic one is slightly larger than the remainder), distributed as shown in Fig. 114, always with the cephalic pore and 3rd to 6th abdominal pores on the curved side of the puparium, and the post vasiform orifice pore on the flat, leaf­vein, side. The puparia have no visible waxy secretion, develop solitarily and are exceptionally cryptic when feeding. The silvery empty pupal cases are more visible, but easily fall from the leaf, leaving faint mealy scars that can mislead the collector into thinking that a cryptic, feeding, puparium is still present. Three reared adult females have been dissected and slide­mounted for future studies, and their forewings each measure up to 2.75 mm.

C. varus and C. keris (described above) are the only members of this genus so far recorded from Belize. Other species found in Belize, and hitherto placed in Ceraleurodicus , are now accommodated in Nealeurodicus , as discussed below.

Aleurodicus (Dialeurodicus) Cockerell, 1902: 280 . Type species Aleurodicus cockerellii Quaintance, 1900: 45 –46, by original designation.

Dialeurodicus Cockerell ; as full genus, Quaintance & Baker, 1913: 26. Bondaria Sampson & Drews, 1941: 149 . Type species Bondaria radifera , by original designation and monotypy. Syn. nov.

DIAGNOSIS AND COMMENTS. As interpreted here, Dialeurodicus comprises species with the following combination of characters: compound pores completely absent, although small clusters of simple pores on tubercular elevations may be present ( Figs 22, 87); cicatrices absent from thorax, indicating absence of compound pores in third­instar; single pairs of submedian cephalic, pro­, meso­ and metathoracic setae almost always all present; with an outer row of 13–17 (usually 14–15) pairs of setae present — these are nominally the submarginal setae but some species have certain pairs displaced mesad into the subdorsal area; dorsal disc usually generously provided with small simple pores and porettes ( Figs 23, 60–61, 84, 86), often in distinct geminate pairs (Figs 87–89); lingula included within confines of vasiform orifice ( Figs 21–23, 61, 84, 89), its head bearing 4 setae; nine pairs of oblique rays lead mesally from puparial margin ( Figs 22, 86–88), often better defined abdominally but sometimes difficult to observe; cuticle may be pale, patterned ( Fig. 22), or evenly dark. Puparia may be almost without visible waxy secretions (e.g. D. caballeroi ), but fields of simple pores secrete long ribbons of white secretion in at least one species (see D. silvestrii , below; Fig.132).

In their greatly oversimplified key to genera of Aleurodicinae , Sampson & Drews (1941) indicated that Dialeurodicus species do not display the character of rays leading mesally from puparial margin. Examination of ten species (BMNH, UCD) has revealed that nine pairs of such rays are always present, although often particularly subtly marked in the cephalothorax. Examination of the only known syntype specimen of Bondaria radifera revealed that its rays are not suture­like for their whole lengths, as was misleadingly illustrated by Sampson & Drews, that the cephalic / prothoracic suture is actually very subtly marked and then only distally, that the number of rays is the same as in all examined Dialeurodicus species, and that the line delineating the submargin / subdorsum division is an artifact of parasitism. This syntype is in generally very poor condition and the venter is incomplete. The dorsal surface was illustrated by Sampson & Drews as though densely porate, but few pores are visible, even though they would still be expected to be obvious on cuticle in poor condition. Its condition means that the only submedian setal pairs visible are the prothoracic, posterior marginal, eighth abdominal and caudal pairs but, importantly, the presence of prothoracic setae usually accompanies the presence of the other cephalothoracic pairs and, indeed, a single probable mesothoracic seta is just visible. A few setae are also visible in the inner submargin, fine and with their apices not reaching the puparial margin, but a full count is not possible. Bondaria is here regarded as a junior synonym of Dialeurodicus syn. nov., on the basis of the major characters discussed above.