Aleurocanthus schmidti, Gillespie, Peter S., 2012

Gillespie, Peter S., 2012, A review of the whitefly genus Aleurocanthus Quaintance & Baker (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in Australia, Zootaxa 3252, pp. 1-42 : 35

Aleurocanthus schmidti sp. n. ( Figs 71–72 )

Puparium. Puparium black in life requiring bleaching for observation, oval shaped with a slight extension of the posterior part giving a teardrop shape. Sexually dimorphic: female 710–770 μm long, 500–550 μm wide, male 610–670 μm long, 450–460 μm wide. Margin narrow but dorsoventrally deep, smooth to irregularly crenulate with 6–7 teeth per 0.1mm, caudal and thoracic tracheal openings not modified.

Dorsum. ( Figs 71–72 ) Glandular papillae on dorsal disc, dorsal disc sculpture with tubercles present submedially, abdomen rhachisiform lacking lateral arms, abdominal VII extended posterolaterly towards submargin, abdominal segment VII medial width essentially same as other segments or slightly reduced, eye spots present but small and pale and hard to see, longitudinal moulting sutures reaching margin, transverse moulting sutures straight to wavy (amplitude <=20% length of suture), reaching outer submargin, simple pores present around margin very close to marginal glands and difficult to discern, occurring singly every 2 to 3 crenulations, simple pores absent from dorsum, vasiform orifice sub circular, situated close to margin (<= 1.5 x vasiform orifice length from margin), with posterior margin elevated, operculum as long as wide, completely filling vasiform orifice, lingula included within vasiform orifice and mostly obscured by operculum, short rounded lingula head partially obscured by operculum, caudal ridge present.

Chaetotaxy. Anterior marginal setae absent, cephalic setae short, acuminate, first abdominal setae very short (5–15 μm), thickened, tapered with blunt apices and similar in appearance to glandular spines, their distance apart> seta length, eighth abdominal setae length between 50% and 150% vasiform orifice length, acuminate, situated lateral to vasiform orifice, caudal setae as long as or longer than vasiform orifice length, acuminate, situated on or close to margin, glandular spines absent from dorsum-subdorsum and with 12–14 evenly spaced pairs present in margin/submargin, with 6–8 thoracic and 6–8 abdominal pairs, submarginal glandular spines very short (longest ~ 25 μm), tapering distally from a broad tubercular base to blunt apex, basal pore absent, setae absent from dorsum and margin.

Venter. ( Fig 72 ) Antenna visible but hard to discern in all but clearest of specimens, short (up to base of fore leg), legs of 1 segment with terminal adhesion pad, lacking setae at base of legs, margin concentric fold present in submargin, lacking caudal and thoracic tracheal folds, ventral abdominal setae short and hard to discern.

Etymology. Name in honour of its discoverers Stefan and Olga Schmidt.

Distribution. WA.

Hosts. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype puparium slide: [marked], 16.xi.1999, Cape Naturaliste National Park, Australia, WA, 33o 32’S 115o 01’E, S. & O. Schmidt ( ANIC). Paratypes: same data as holotype, 6 x puparia sharing same slide as holotype ( ANIC).

Comments. Although based on only one sample the material available is of sufficiently high quality to warrant description. This species is somewhat similar to A. laurenae but differs in the following respects; A. schmidti has a more rounded puparium with far shorter glandular spines (5–15 μm) than the more elongate A. laurenae with longer (70–90 μm) glandular spines. Whilst the number of glandular spines is somewhat variable in A. schmidti the arrangement of the 2 pairs of cephalothoracic submarginal glandular spines anterior to the eye spot separates it from A. laurenae which has 3 pairs. The dorsum of A. schmidti has a large number of papillae whilst those of A. laurenae have few. The vasiform orifice is situated very close to the margin in A. laurenae (less than one third vasiform orifice width from margin) whereas in A. schmidti it is situated about 1 vasiform orifice width from margin.

Figures

FIGURES 69 – 72. A. sapindus sp. nov. puparia 69 – 70: 69, slide (500 µm); 70, illustration - inset margin detail (500 µm); A. schmidtii sp. nov. puparia 71 – 72: 71, slide; 72, illustration (inset margin detail).