Nealeurodicus, Hempel

John H. Martin, 2004, Whiteflies of Belize (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). Part 1 — introduction and account of the subfamily Aleurodicinae Quaintance & Baker, Zootaxa 681, pp. 1-86 : 53-54

NEALEURODICUS Hempel

Nealeurodicus Hempel, 1922b: 1134, 1170 . Type species Nealeurodicus paulistus , by original designation and monotypy

DIAGNOSIS — PUPARIUM. Nealeurodicus comprises species with the following suite of characters that differ from those of species of Ceraleurodicus (in which genus most Nealeurodicus species were accommodated prior to the present work): bases of the 12–15 pairs of submarginal setae situated very close to margin, the setae themselves long and robust, with almost their entire lengths reaching beyond puparial margin, forming a distinct fringe ( Figs 33, 35–37, 117); margin somewhat thickened, often down­curved, appearing crenate; puparia at most slightly asymmetrical, with compound pores always paired on each side of body (Fig. 117); a variable number of pairs of radial rays often present ( Figs 33, 35, 37), sometimes indicated by pigmentation, or indistinct, but without marginal modifications at their extremities; almost always with a cephalic pair and a postvasiform orifice pair of compound pores on abdominal segment VIII, but distribution, size and structure of compound pores very variable between species. Other characters are shared with Ceraleurodicus and include: single pairs of submedian cephalic, pro­, meso­ and metathoracic setae present; cicatrices absent from thorax (reflecting absence of compound pores in third­instar); lingula with 4 apical setae and normally included within the vasiform orifice. Puparia of species of Nealeurodicus typically secrete a dorsal crust of hard, waxy material that appears fibrous towards the edges of the crust ( Figs 34, 38).

COMMENTS. The type species of Ceraleurodicus , C. splendidus Hempel , clearly belongs to an assemblage of species quite different from several other species that have hitherto been accommodated within the genus. As far back as 1930, Laing opined that his new species, melzeri , was congeneric with octifer and bakeri (both Bondar) (all three described in Radialeurodicus, later placed as a junior synonym of Ceraleurodicus by Costa Lima (1928), through synonymy of the type species of the two genera), but that these three species were only “doubtfully congeneric” with C. splendidus . Through the kindness of MZUSP, the author was able to study syntypic puparial material of Nealeurodicus paulistus Hempel , which is clearly congeneric with melzeri , octifer and bakeri . The following species are therefore here transferred to Nealeurodicus from Ceraleurodicus — altissimus ( Quaintance, 1900) , bakeri ( Bondar, 1923a) , ingae ( Baker, 1937) , melzeri ( Laing, 1930) , moreirai ( Costa Lima, 1928) and octifer ( Bondar, 1923a) (all comb. nov.). Two new species of Nealeurodicus from Belize are here described.

In addition to the puparial characters discussed above, adult females of C. varus (Bondar) have only two pairs of ventro­lateral wax plates, whereas those of N. altissimus , N. bakeri and a new species, here described, have four pairs: it is unfortunate that adults are unknown for most of the species now placed in Ceraleurodicus and Nealeurodicus , so testing this character across the whole assemblage has not been possible.

During the course of study of the Ceraleurodicus / Nealeurodicus assemblage, the author has become convinced that the number, distribution between and within segments, and structure of compound pore pairs are of much greater importance in species definitions, than is cuticular pigmentation. Radialeurodicus melzeri Laing (1930) was synonymised with Ceraleurodicus moreirai Costa Lima (1928) by Mound & Halsey (1978: 239), presumably because of the near­identical pattern of pigmentation. However, the puparia of N. melzeri have a pair of compound pores on each of abdominal segments II, IV, VII and VIII, whereas puparia of N. moreirai only have pairs on abdominal segments II and VII, and thus N. melzeri should not be regarded as a synonym of N. moreirai (but see below).

The puparium of N. paulistus was described as possessing six pairs of abdominal compound pores. Examination of the two puparia present on the slide quoted as “ type ” by Hempel (1922b) was hampered by the presence of the dorsal wax crust on both specimens, which had clearly not received any sort of treatment prior to slide mounting. However, it can be seen that six pairs of abdominal compound pores are only present on one side of one specimen: the other side of this individual, and both sides of the other specimen, only have abdominal compound pores on segments II, IV, VII & VIII, thus matching the arrangement in N. melzeri (Laing) . Despite the presence of secretions covering the syntype puparia of N. paulistus , it is possible to see that the characters of the margin and vasiform orifice, and presence of a cluster of bright pores to either side of the vasiform orifice, are identical to N. melzeri . It is therefore considered that N. melzeri should be regarded as a junior synonym of N. paulistus , a species whose puparia are considered normally to possess abdominal compound pores on segments II, IV, VII & VIII (syn. nov.).