Paracarsidara dugesii (Löw, 1886)

Halbert, Susan E. & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2020, The psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) of Florida: newly established and rarely collected taxa and checklist, Insecta Mundi 2020 (788), pp. 1-88 : 32

Paracarsidara dugesii (Löw, 1886)

Materials examined. USA: Florida: Monroe County: Key West, 5.vi.1953, Abutilon hirtum (Lam.) Sweet (Malvaceae) (O. D. Link) (slide mounted, ethanol FSCA); Key West, 6.i.1965, Waltheria indica L. ( Malvaceae ) (H. A. Denmark) (slide mounted, FSCA).

Diagnosis. Description by Brown and Hodkinson (1988).

Distribution. Cuba, Dominica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, and Puerto Rico; the occurrence in Brazil is questionable ( Hollis 1987); USA (FL) (new record reported here).

Host plants. Perhaps oligophagous on Malvaceae ; in Florida on Abutilon hirtum (Lam.) Sweet and Waltheria indica L. ( Malvaceae ).

Comments. It is unknown if the population of this Neotropical psyllid has persisted in Florida. Between 2001 and 2014, there were 10 interceptions of this species at US ports of entry ( Smith-Pardo 2014). Only one incident involved the family Malvaceae , in which reported hosts can be found. One interception was on lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.), a common plant for hitchhikers (DPI unpublished data), and five were found on Lamiaceae Martinov. Most interceptions were from Mexico, but one was from Ecuador, indicating that the species probably is established there.