Aleurocanthus arecae, David, B. Vasantharaj & Manjunatha, And M., 2003

David, B. Vasantharaj & Manjunatha, And M., 2003, A new species of Aleurocanthus Quaintance & Baker (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) from Areca catechu in India, with comments on the status of Aleurodes nubilans Buckton, Zootaxa 173, pp. 1-4 : 2-4

Aleurocanthus arecae sp. nov.

(Fig. 1)

Puparium. Blackish brown with powdery wax sparsely distributed on cases; found in groups on the undersurface of leaves. Oval in shape; female puparia measure 1.17 – 1.31 mm long, 0.85 – 1.04 mm wide. Male puparia smaller than female, 1.07 – 1.14 mm long, 0.63 – 0.84 mm wide, with reduced spination. Margin lobulate, 4­5 teeth occupying 0.1 mm. Anterior and posterior marginal setae present, minute. Thoracic and caudal pore regions not differentiated.

1. Aleurocanthus arecae sp. nov.

Dorsum. Dorsal spines pointed; 14 cephalothoracic pairs of which 5 submarginal, 140­ 240 µm long, 9 subdorsal/submedian, 60­290 µm long, and 18 abdominal pairs of which 8 submarginal, 140­240 µm long, 6 subdorsal, 60­250 µm long, 4 submedian 18­250 µm long.

Chaetotaxy. Cephalic, eighth abdominal and caudal setae present, caudal setae being the longest, 180­240 µm long. Submargin with short capitate setae interspersed in between the bases of submarginal spines.

Vasiform orifice hardly elevated, subcircular; operculum filling orifice obscuring lingula. Floor of vasiform orifice with irregular teeth. Caudal furrow absent.

Ven te r. Antenna reaching base of prothoracic leg. Spines absent at base of legs. Thoracic and caudal tracheal folds not discernible. Ventral abdominal setae anterior to vasiform orifice, minute. Submarginal area with a row of mushroom­shaped glandular structures.

Etymology. Named after the host Areca catechu .

Host Plant: Areca catechu (Palmae)

Holotype: One pupal case on slide, Vidiga, Shimoga district, Karnataka, Areca catechu , 11. 11. 2000, M. Manjunatha. Deposited in the collections of the Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

Paratypes: Nine pupal cases mounted bearing holotype data. One with Dr. M. Manjunatha; one with Prof. R. W. Alexander Jesudasan, Department of Zoology, Madras Christian College, Tambaram East, Chennai 600 059; remaining with Dr. B. V. David. 39 pupal cases, Areca catechu , Karnataka, Vittal, 19.i.2000, ENQ 2002/1087, H004, Natural History Museum, London and BVD collection.

Comments. A. arecae belongs to a small group of Aleurocanthus species which possess very coarse marginal teeth in the puparial stage, only 4­5 teeth per 0.1mm. The bestknown of this group is A. woglumi Ashby , a common and widespread pest of citrus and some other cultivated woody plants. A. arecae differs from woglumi in having the second and third posteriormost pairs of submarginal abdominal spines doubled (only the third posteriormost pair is so doubled in woglumi ). The submarginal spines are also more even in length in arecae , generally shorter than in woglumi . This new species also resembles Aleurocanthus clitoriae Jesudasan & David , in having the second and third posterior most pairs of abdominal submarginal spines doubled, but clitoriae is not a member of the woglumi ­group, possessing much finer marginal teeth.