Trialeurodes, Cockerell

Martin, Jon H., 2005, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Part 2 - a review of the subfamily Aleyrodinae Westwood, Zootaxa 1098 (1), pp. 1-116 : 53

TRIALEURODES Cockerell

Aleyrodes (Trialeurodes) Cockerell, 1902: 283 . Type species Aleurodes pergandei Quaintance, 1900: 31–32 , by original designation.

Trialeurodes Cockerell ; as full genus Quaintance & Baker, 1915: xi.

DIAGNOSIS AND COMMENTS. As interpreted here, Trialeurodes comprises species (Fig 60–74, 125–132) with the following combination of characters: Submargin with glandular papillae, which may be acute, broadly conical or rounded, and which sometimes also occur on the dorsal disc; abdominal segment VII much reduced in length medially; vasiform orifice cordate, posteriorly well­defined, not usually fully occupied by operculum; lingula at least partly covered by operculum, although remaining visible, included within orifice, with characteristic lobulate head; puparial cuticle usually pale, often very fragile once adults have emerged; margin with shallow and rather irregular crenulations, sometimes a little modified at thoracic tracheal openings at margin to form combs of teeth; ventrally, leg base spines or setae present but variably developed, tracheal folds absent.

Trialeurodes is a predominantly New World genus and is much better defined than many others. It currently includes about 60 species, worldwide. Russell (1948) revised the Nearctic species, dividing them between six species­groups. Trialeurodes species discovered in Belize are mostly members of the T. floridensis (Quaintance) ­group, but the T. variabilis (Quaintance) ­group and T. vaporariorum (Westwood) ­group are also represented. Three distinctive species are here described, none of them appearing to belong to one of Russell’s North American species­groups. There are probably at least 15 species represented amongst study material from Belize but the nature of intraspecific variation, particularly within the T. floridensis ­group (see below), is insufficiently understood for certainty.