Aleuroplatus Quaintance & Baker, 1914

Valencia, Luis & Evans, Gregory A., 2024, Review of the genus Tetralicia (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and description of two new species of whiteflies found on avocado trees in Peru, Zootaxa 5403 (2), pp. 197-238 : 227

Aleuroplatus Quaintance & Baker, 1914

Aleuroplatus Quaintance & Baker, 1914: 98 . Type species. Aleurodes quercusaquaticae Quaintance, 1900 , by original designation.

The genus Aleuroplatus Quaintance & Baker, 1914 includes 81 species known worldwide; of these, 29 species are known to occur in the New World (NW), of which 16 and 19 species are from the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, respectively and 6 species occur in both regions.

Bondar (1923) described Aleurotrachelus gratiosus found on various Lauraceae in Brazil. The new species, A. martini and A. gratiosus are very similar in that they both have a single row of teeth along the lateral margin, lack a submedial furrow and the operculum only fills about 0.75x the orifice. In addition, both species have columns of colored wax on the dorsum, similar to that of Aleuroplatus perseaphagus Martin, Aguiar & Pita ( Martin et al. 1996) , a species that is known to occur on avocado in the Madeira Islands and Venezuela. This differs from Aleurotrachelus species which have wax secreting marginal glands at the base of the teeth along the lateral margin which give it the appearance of having a double row of teeth. In addition, the cephalothorax has a submedial furrow, the operculum of most species fills or nearly fills the vasiform orifice most species have white wax around the lateral margin. Therefore, A. martini is placed in, and A. gratiosus is transferred to the genus Aleuroplatus .

Species of the genus Aleuroplatus and Tetralicia can be distinguished from other New World genera that are dark brown or black, have the lateral margin at the tracheal opening undifferentiated or with slightly differentiated teeth (lack a pore or cleft) and have cordate or hemispherical vasiform orifice with a rounded posterior margin (as opposed to be triangular and with a pointed posterior margin).