Aleurotulus mundururu Bondar, 1923

Martin, Jon H., 2005, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Part 2 - a review of the subfamily Aleyrodinae Westwood, Zootaxa 1098 (1), pp. 1-116 : 28

Aleurotulus mundururu Bondar

(Figs 42, 102–104)

Aleurotulus mundururu Bondar, 1923: 131–132 . Syntypes, Brazil.

DISTRIBUTION. Neotropical Region: Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Trinidad.

COMMENTS. A. mundururu is one of a group of species with a distinct abdominal rhachis with lateral arms that are angled acutely posteriad, with very characteristic oblique cephalothoracic folds, a keeled longitudinal moulting suture, and with the mesometathoracic division much thickened submedially, intersecting the longitudinal moulting suture close to its confluence with the transverse moulting sutures (Fig. 42). A. mundururu does not possess a pair of cephalic setae; the metathoracic, eighth abdominal and caudal setal pairs are long and hair­like; the glands at the bases of the marginal teeth are evensized, each narrower than one tooth­base and not longer than wide. A. laneus (described above) is also a member of this group, differing from A. mundururu primarily in the possession of a pair of cephalic setae ( Fig. 9 ), in the thickened nature of the cephalic and eighth abdominal setal pairs, and the nature of the marginal tooth­base glands.

Some puparia of A. mundururu possess a series of apparent short folds, perpendicular to the puparial margin, leading mesad from the marginal tooth bases and effectively defining the submarginal zone (Figs 103–104). However, post­emergence pupal cases do not display this character (Fig. 102), and it appears to be an artifact of the developing adult insect inside the puparium.

In addition to A. mundururu and A. laneus , one further member of the A. mundururu ­ group (Appendix 1) has been collected in Belize, and also in Nicaragua. The puparia of this species secrete distinct peripheral wax “stars”, and there are other taxonomic differences.

Figures

FIGURES 9–12. Aleurotulus laneus sp. nov. 9, puparium, dorsum (see Fig. 101 for photograph); 10, puparium, cephalothoracic margin and submarginal dorsal detail; 11, puparium, posterior dorsal detail; 12, adult female, antenna, apical flagellar segments.