Dialeurodes denticulatus (Bondar) Martin, 2005

Martin, Jon H., 2005, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Part 2 - a review of the subfamily Aleyrodinae Westwood, Zootaxa 1098 (1), pp. 1-116 : 39-40

Dialeurodes denticulatus (Bondar) comb. nov.

(Figs 41, 111)

Aleuroplatus denticulatus Bondar, 1923: 113–115 . Syntypes, Brazil.

Dialeurodes michoacanensis Sampson & Drews, 1941: 165–166 . Syntypes, Mexico. Syn. nov.

DISTRIBUTION. Neotropical Region: Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panamá.

COMMENTS. Although type material of D. michoacanensis has not been examined, its original description and illustration closely match Brazilian puparia of Aleuroplatus denticulatus Bondar in BMNH (probably syntypes, Martin, 2004: 560); they also share their host plant genus, Ficus , and are therefore considered synonymous. Also, examination of Bondar’s material of A. denticulatus indicates that this species should be transferred to Dialeurodes .

Jensen (1999) recognised what he termed the D. michoacanensis species­group, with D. michoacanensis Sampson & Drews and D. egregissima S.& D. sharing the unusual presence of a ventral band of spinules between the puparial mouthparts and antennae. However, the puparium of D. egregissima has its transverse and longitudinal moulting sutures with their distal extremities joined by a cephalothoracic suture (see figure A, p. 5), forming a pair of plates which are lost when the adult insect emerges; this character has been regarded as having generic significance (e.g. the Asian genus, Cockerelliella Sundararaj & David, 1992 ), and yet the moulting sutures of D. denticulatus are typical for Dialeurodes . Until the relative importance of this character is investigated in more detail D. egregissima , and a similar species from Belize (species 8, Appendix 1), are here retained within Dialeurodes sensu lato.

A number of puparia collected from avocado ( Persea americana ), in both Belize and Nicaragua, share the following characters with D. denticulatus collected from species of Ficus : ventral spinule band present between antennae, the same chaetotaxy with capitate dorsal setae, and a cluster of a few tiny pale tubercles present at mesal margin of each thoracic and caudal tracheal marginal indentation. The dorsal surfaces of puparia from avocado are more coarsely tuberculate than in most specimens from Ficus species , but the submedian zone is delineated in the same way. It is considered most likely that the avocado specimens are a variant of D. denticulatus , especially given that there is also a degree of variation shown in the degree of roughening of the dorsal puparial surfaces of specimens collected from different species of Ficus .