Limataphalara brevicephala Hodkinson, 1992

Halbert, Susan E. & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2020, The psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) of Florida: newly established and rarely collected taxa and checklist, Insecta Mundi 2020 (788), pp. 1-88 : 21

Limataphalara brevicephala Hodkinson, 1992

( Fig. 86–89 )

Materials examined. USA: Florida: Collier County: Collier Seminole State Park, 21 and 28.iii.2003, Nectandra coriacea (Sw.) Griseb. (Scott Krueger) ( FSCA #s E2003-1034, 1179) ( FSCA, slide, dry mounted).

Diagnosis. Adults of Limataphalara brevicephala are easy to recognize ( Fig. 86, 87 ). The thorax is dark with orange highlights. The forewings are yellow and slightly coriaceous, with a heavy black partial stripe on the leading edge. Genal processes are undeveloped, and antennae are short. This species belongs to a small Neotropical genus with another three described and several undescribed species that all are monophagous on Nectandra species. The immatures of L. brevicephala ( Fig. 88 ) differ from those of L. eucosma Burckhardt and Queiroz, 2013, and L. lautereri Burckhardt and Queiroz, 2013, in the smooth body surface that is densely covered in elongate tubercles bearing a lanceolate seta each in the other two species (Burckhardt and Queiroz 2013).

Distribution. Limataphalara brevicephala is a rare species described from Florida ( Hodkinson 1992a). There are type specimens from Miami (Miami-Dade County), collected on 13.iv.1982 by T. Loyd, and from Ankona (St. Lucie County) collected on Nectandra coriacea (Sw.) Griseb. (Lauraceae) on 11.v.1984 by DPI inspector Kenneth L. Hibbard reported in the original description ( Hodkinson 1992a). More specimens were found in Collier Seminole State Park (Collier County) on 21 and 28.iii.2003 by DPI inspector Scott D. Krueger on Nectandra coriacea (FSCA#s E2003-1034, 1179). The population was still there on the same trees in 2014 and 2017. Currently, no other populations are known to exist.

Host plants. Nectandra coriacea (Sw.) Griseb. (Lauraceae) . In 2003, DPI inspector Scott D. Krueger observed that the new shoots of the plants were damaged severely by witches’ broom growth ( Fig. 89 ).

Pachypsyllinae Crawford, 1914

Pachypsylla Riley, 1883

Comments. Species of Pachypsylla are mostly gall-inducers on Celtis L. ( Cannabaceae ) in North America. The genus is a taxonomic chaos, and much of the published distributional data should be treated with caution. Several species were described based on galls only ( Riley 1890), which were incorrectly considered nomina nuda by Tuthill (1943). Tuthill (1943) also concluded, for the lack of finding morphological differences between the adults emerged from different galls on the leaves of Celtis occidentalis L., that the gall shape is variable induced by the single species Pachypsylla celtidismamma (Riley, 1875) . Hodkinson (1988) listed the following of Riley’s names as synonyms of Pachypsylla celtidismamma : Pachypsylla celtidisasterisca Riley, 1890 , P. celtidiscucurbita Riley, 1890, P. celtidisglobula Riley, 1890, P. celtidispubescens Riley, 1890, and P. celtidisumbilicus Riley, 1890. Yang and Mitter (1994) studied Pachypsylla galls and concluded that P. celtidismamma is a complex of cryptic species. Thomas (2011) reviewed the nomenclatorial aspects and recognized 14 nominal species. At least one serious but unpublished attempt has been made to sort out the Florida species, based on notes in DPI files from John E. Porter, United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Miami, FL. Files include a letter to Frank W. Mead written in 1962. Comprehensive biological, morphological and molecular studies are needed to determine accurate species assignments. All species seem to produce one generation per year in Florida. Hodkinson (1988) does not list any species from Florida and the following list of species present in Florida is tentative. It is based on specimens in the FSCA and NHMB provisionally identified by us, mostly using the key of Tuthill (1943). The taxonomy of Pachypsylla is in need of revision, which is outside the scope of this paper.

Figures

Figures 86–89. Limataphalara brevicephala. 86, 87) Adults. 88) Fifth instar immature. 89) Colony of immatures in witches’ broom. (Photos by Lyle Buss, Entomology Department, University of Florida).