Aleurocerus, Bondar

Martin, Jon H., 2005, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Part 2 - a review of the subfamily Aleyrodinae Westwood, Zootaxa 1098 (1), pp. 1-116 : 8-9

ALEUROCERUS Bondar

Aleurocerus Bondar, 1923: 156 . Type species Aleurocerus luxuriosus , by original designation. Uraleyrodes Sampson & Drews, 1941: 180 . Type species Uraleyrodes ceriferus , by monotypy.

[Synonymised by Mound & Halsey, 1978: 27.]

DIAGNOSIS AND COMMENTS. As interpreted here, Aleurocerus comprises species with the following combination of puparial characters: vasiform orifice wider than long, lingula obscured by operculum, orifice itself borne on a striking bifid, horned, process ( Fig. 38 ); cuticle dark brown to black; living puparia usually gregarious, secreting coarse, raphia­like, ribbons of secretion, with exuviae of earlier stages often stacked above the puparium; submargin separated from the dorsal disc by a prounounced furrow; abdominal segments submedially rhachisform; margin coarsely toothed.

Aleurocerus is a well­defined genus, occurring only in the Neotropical Region (but occasionally intercepted by quarantine authorities elsewhere—see A. palmae , below). Russell (1986) provided an account of Aleurocerus , including an annotated puparial drawing and a key to the ten known species. In Belize, three species have been found, all of them already described (see below).

In BMNH there are several samples of puparia (from Costa Rica, Panamá and Trinidad) where the vasiform orifice terminates in a pronounced single horn, and these are considered to belong to a distinct genus that is closely allied to Aleurocerus .

Figures

FIGURES 35–40. 35–37, Aleuroglandulus subtilis Bondar, puparium (see Fig. 89 for photograph). 35–36, specimen from Colocasia ex­Costa Rica [A. malangae Russell sensu Russell, 1944]; 37, puparium (after Russell, 1944). 38, Aleurocerus sp., puparium, transverse­ovoid vasiform orifice located on vertically­directed bifid process (see Figs 83–85 for photographs). 39–40, Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby, puparium (see Fig. 82 for photograph), 39 drawn from specimen, 40 stylised.