Casuarinicola australis Taylor, 2010

Thorpe, Stephen E., 2013, Casuarinicolaaustralis Taylor, 2010 (Hemiptera: Triozidae), newly recorded from New Zealand, Biodiversity Data Journal 1, pp. 953-953 : 953

Rank: SpeciesType of treatment: Redescription or species observationextantHabitat: terrestrialRoot classification: 8Feeds on: Casuarina sp.

Casuarinicola australis Taylor, 2010

Materials

Type status: Other material Occurrence: recordedBy: Stephen Thorpe; sex: 1 male, 1 female; Location: country: New Zealand; verbatimLocality: Mechanics Bay, Auckland City; verbatimElevation: 0-5 m; verbatimLatitude: 36.8474938105S; verbatimLongitude: 174.7869624545E; Event: eventDate: 6 January 2013; Record Level: institutionCode: Auckland Museum

Type status: Other material Occurrence: recordedBy: Stephen Thorpe; individualCount: 1; sex: female; Location: country: New Zealand; verbatimLocality: Felton Mathew Avenue, Saint Johns, Auckland; verbatimLatitude: 36.8741794382S; verbatimLongitude: 174.8506522179E; Event: eventDate: 2013-02-20; Record Level: institutionCode: Auckland Museum

Type status: Other material Occurrence: recordedBy: Stephen Thorpe; individualCount: many; sex: males, females; Location: country: New Zealand; verbatimLocality: Thomas Bloodworth Park, Auckland; verbatimElevation: 0-5 m; verbatimLatitude: 36.8652411423S; verbatimLongitude: 174.7900235653E; Event: eventDate: 2013-02-26; Record Level: institutionCode: Auckland Museum

Description

On 6 Jan 2013, I examined some Casuarina glauca trees growing in the vicinity of Ports of Auckland at Mechanics Bay. A few psylloids were observed, including a pair in copula, which I collected. The specimens will be vouchered in Auckland Museum. They are easily identified as Casuarinicola australis Taylor in Taylor et al. (2010). According to the original description, "this species can be distinguished from all other species in the genus by the female having three incomplete black terminal bands in the fore wing. The male has clear wings." Actually, the bands on the female fore wing are brown, not "black", and the male fore wing is not completely "clear", having three streaks between the veins, as is obvious from the accompanying figures therein (figs. 3-6). Nevertheless, my material (see Fig. 1) exactly matches figs. 5 and 6 in Taylor et al. (2010), and certainly keys out to Casuarinicola australis therein, except only that the second and third bands on the female fore wings of my specimen are narrowly joined. Such minor variation is entirely expected for insect colour patterns, and the pattern is still by far closest to that of typical Casuarinicola australis than it is to any other species of Casuarinicola . I can find no other differences. I therefore recommend that Casuarinicola australis be added to the New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR) as present in the wild. Its "origin" is "exotic". Subsequently, on 20 Feb 2013, a further female specimen was found on a Casuarina tree in the Auckland suburb of Saint Johns. The second and third bands on the fore wings are separated, though narrowly (Fig. 2). On 26 February 2013, the species was found to be fairly common on Casuarina trees at Thomas Bloodworth Park, Auckland. Several pairs were observed in copula. One female was collected. It has the second and third bands of one forewing joined, and of the other narrowly separated. On Casuarina in Auckland, there is also an apparently undescribed Australian species of Trioza , which is more common and widespread than Casuarinicola australis .