Asialeyrodes indica Sundararaj and David

Dubey, Anil Kumar, 2019, Asialeyrodes nicobarica sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) from the Nicobar Island, located in the Indian part of the Sundaland hotspot, and two new synonymies, Zootaxa 4674 (4), pp. 439-450 : 445-449

Asialeyrodes indica Sundararaj and David

( Figs 27–31 )

Asialeyrodes indica Sundararaj and David 1992: 415 .

Asialeyrodes saklespurensis Regu and David 1993: 91–93 . (Synonymized by Dubey and Sundararaj 2006b: 117).

Asialeyrodes menoni Meganathan and David 1994: 26 . (Holotype, Litsea laevigata, Nilikkal, Silant Valley , 2.ii.1991, P. Meganathan). Syn. nov.

Asialeyrodes tuberculata Pushpa and Sundararaj 2010: 31–41 . (Holotype, Symplocos macrocarpa, Munnar , 28.iii.2007, R. Pushpa). Syn. nov.

Material examined. Asialeyrodes tuberculata - Holotype puparium. India; Kerala, Munnar, on Symplocos macrocarpa , 28.iii.2007, R. Pushpa (deposited in the National Forest Insect Collection, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India).

Asialeyrodes indica , 10 puparia on 4 slides, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Paget Island, 27.x.2017, A. K. Dubey; Nicobar Islands, GNBR, 5 puparia on 3 slides, 18.xi.2018, A. K. Dubey .

Host plants: Ervatomia coronaria ( Apocynaceae ) ( Sundararaj and David, 1992); Lauraceae : Litsea laevigata ( Meganathan and David, 1994) ; Rubiaceae : Xeromphis spinosa ( Evans, 2007) ; Antidesma sp. ( Euphorbiaceae ), Xeromphis uliginosa , Olea dioica (Oleaceae) , Smilax zeylanica (Smilacaceae) , Symplocos sp. (Simplocaceae), Lagerstromea microcarpa (Lytharaceae) , Schefflera rostrata (Araliaceae) , Syzygium sp. ( Myrtaceae ), Sterblus asper ( Moraceae ), Tabernmontana heyneana , Capparis rheedii (Capparaceae) , Xeromphis uliginosa (Rubiaceae) ( Dubey and Ko, 2008); S. cochinchinensis subsp. laurina , and Tabernmontana alternifolia (ex. A. tuberculata, Pushpa and Sundararaj, 2010 ).

Distribution. INDIA: Mainland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Remarks: This species is found commonly infesting Tabernmontana heyneana in Western Ghats of India, and widely distributed in South India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The description of a morphologically similar species, A. tuberculata , from this host by Pushpa and Sundararaj (2010) led to the examination of its holotype from the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India that resulted in new synonymy. Pushpa and Sundararaj (2010) mistakenly considered the ventral thoracic tracheal folds as dorsal tracheal furrows, and drew dorsal submarginal sculptures ( Fig. 29 ) to establish A. tuberculata as new species. All the characters observed in the holotype such as median and posterior abdominal area ( Figs 28, 31 ) confirm that it is clearly A. indica and hence, A. tuberculata is considered as a junior synonym of A. indica . Further, the cephalic and first abdominal setae are capitate in the puparia of A. indica , and measured the same length as those of menoni, Meganathan and David (1994) described A. menoni based on cephalic and first abdominal setae being shorter than those in A. indica ; however these setae often break off during mounting which may result in the identification of some of the A. indica puparia as A. menoni within a population. The holotype and paratype of A. menoni were not found in the Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi for examination where many of the whitefly types have been deposited by Indian experts (personal communication with Davjani Day, in-Charge, Entomology Museum, IARI, New Delhi). Examination of several puparia of A. indica and SEM studies indicate that A. menoni is clearly A. indica . No other differences were observed between the description of these two species and hence, A. menoni is also considered here as a junior synonym of A. indica .

Figures

FIGURES 27–31. A. tuberculata Pushpa and Sundararaj, holotype (= Asialeyrodes indica Sundararaj and David), 27, puparium; 28, median abdominal area; 29, cephalic submargin; 30, thoracic tracheal pore; 31, vasiform orifice caudal furrow.