Aleurodicus magnificus, Costa Lima, 1928

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 : 35

Aleurodicus magnificus Costa Lima

( Figs 6 , 25, 58)

Aleurodicus magnificus Costa Lima, 1928: 129–131. Lectotype puparium here designated, Brazil [ USNM].

DISTRIBUTION. Neotropical Region - Belize, Brazil, Ecuador, Panamá.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Type material detailed and discussed below ( USNM); puparia with the following country / host combinations – Belize: Tetracera ; Brazil:? Annona ; Ecuador; Annona ; Panamá: Tetracera , Nectandra , Unonopsis , Vismia (BMNH) .

COMMENTS. A slide bearing type data was loaned to the author by USNM as part of this study, although no depository was quoted by Mound & Halsey (1978). The data are “ Aleurodicus magnificus Costa Lima, on orange, S. Lourenço, Sul de Minas, Brazil, 1921, from Costa Lima 1949”. The slide contains seven puparia, two of them noticeably smaller than the other five and perhaps representing sexual dimorphism. For the reasons stated here on p. 9, a lectotype has been here designated from amongst the specimens on this USNM slide, and is clearly indicated.

This species secretes a dense, woolly, tangle with particularly coarse strands of secretion. Colonies of puparia often appear dirty, greyish. Most commonly, puparia are aligned along the undersides of leaf midribs, rather than in broader aggregations - reminiscent of the species formerly included in Lecanoideus , particularly A. mirabilis (see below).

Morphologically, A. magnificus is extremely similar to A. neglectus , and the two species’ general appearance is as in figures 6 and 25; the two species comprise a small species-group, differing in the distribution of simple pores on the dorsal disc – see key to species, couplets 4 & 5 (p. 16) and figures 58 and 59. Both species lack notched simple pores on abdominal segments I and VII.

Figures

FIGURES 5–8. Aleurodicus spp, puparia, photomicrographs. 5, A. inversus Martin. 6, A. magnificus Costa Lima. 7, A. maritimus Hempel. 8, A. niveus Martin.