Aleyrodinae, Westwood, 1840

Martin, Jon H., 2005, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Part 2 - a review of the subfamily Aleyrodinae Westwood, Zootaxa 1098 (1), pp. 1-116 : 6-7

Neotropical Aleyrodinae extending into the Old World

There is a recognised phenomenon of whitefly species escaping the confines of the neotropics, often causing problems for quarantine and agricultural organisations in areas of new introduction. This was discussed in Part 1 of this account, with specific examples from the subfamily Aleurodicinae treated in detail.

However, other recent escapees from the neotropics are members of the Aleyrodinae . Tetraleurodes acaciae (Quaintance) (see p. 51) is now known to occur in the Pacific, the Philippines and Hong Kong, colonising a number of fabaceous [leguminous] plants. Aleurotrachelus atratus Hempel is a palm­feeding species now present in Samoa, the Comoro archipelago, São Tomé, the Canary Islands and the southern USA [although it has not yet been collected in Belize, it is likely to be present]. The Araceae­feeding Crenidorsum aroidephagus Martin & Aguiar (see p. 38) now affects ornamental aroids in Madeira, Fiji and Hawaii, and has been found under glass in France and Germany. Most recently, the avocado­feeding Tetraleurodes perseae Nakahara , described from California and Central America in 1995, was discovered in Israel and Lebanon in 2002 [it possibly occurs in Belize —see discussion of T. confusa Nakahara , p. 52]. Aleuroplatus perseaphagus Martin et al. (1996) was described from the island of Madeira, where it had become naturalised, but its similarity to A. vinsonioides (Cockerell) (see p. 19), together with museum material from Costa Rica and Venezuela, reveal it to be another neotropical introduction. An example of the potential threat from other New World whiteflies concerns Aleuroplatus biluminiporus Martin & Malumphy (2002) , thriving on bay trees ( Laurus nobilis , Lauraceae ) in plantations in Colombia, having transferred from local, possibly also lauraceous, hosts: bay is a Mediterranean native, yet fresh Colombian­grown leaves are imported back into Europe for the condiments industry, sometimes carrying these whiteflies. Voucher specimens from most of these introduced populations are present in the BMNH collection, but to date only T. acaciae and C. aroidephagus have been recorded in Belize with certainty.