Aleurothrixus myrtacei Bondar

Martin, Jon H., 2005, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Part 2 - a review of the subfamily Aleyrodinae Westwood, Zootaxa 1098 (1), pp. 1-116 : 22

Aleurothrixus myrtacei Bondar

( Figs 14 , 97)

Aleurothrixus myrtacei Bondar, 1923: 176 . Syntypes, Brazil.

DISTRIBUTION. Neotropical Region: Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Guadeloupe.

COMMENTS. A. myrtacei has puparia with finer marginal teeth and shorter submedian setae than in A. floccosus , but it shares the characteristic gregarious habit of the immature stages, which are usually found in discreet, crowded, groups. Two Brazilian puparia in BMNH (which are probably syntypes, see Martin, 2004:56), have their eighth abdominal and caudal setae shorter and stouter than those of Belize specimens; however, specimens in BMNH from guava in Barbados have these setal pairs intermediate in form and this is considered to be intraspecific variation.

Aleurothrixus sp 1 (see Appendix 1) closely resembles A. myrtacei , differing only in the very dark puparial cuticle. A. myrtacei may exhibit variation in the degree of puparial pigmentation, as seen in some populations of A. floccosus (see discussion of A. floccosus , above).

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).