Aleyrodidae, Westwood, 1840

Martin, Jon H. & Lau, Clive S. K., 2011, The Hemiptera-Sternorrhyncha (Insecta) of Hong Kong, China-an annotated inventory citing voucher specimens and published records, Zootaxa 2847, pp. 1-122 : 18-19

Aleyrodidae — Aleurodicinae

Aleurodicus machili Takahashi (1931)

see Palaealeurodicus machili (Takahashi, 1931)

Palaealeurodicus machili (Takahashi, 1931) (Fig. 8)

The genus Palaealeurodicus was described and discussed by Martin (2008), accommodating native Asian species resembling Aleurodicus . P. machili reported from HK on Actinodaphne sp. by Takahashi (1941a) but no known vouchers. This species is common on Litsea rotundifolia var. oblongifolia , Machilus spp , including M. chinensis , M. wangchiana and M.? breviflora , and some other members of the Lauraceae in HK, Hainan and Taiwan, where the immature stages tend to develop against the lower midribs of leaves. This is the only native member of the Aleurodicinae known from HK. Voucher material in BMNH, PPRD and USNM, material in the latter two collections still under Aleurodicus .

Paraleyrodes minei Iaccarino (1990)

Although this species was described from Citrus crops in Syria, all Paraleyrodes species are native to the Neotropical Region. P. minei is now often called the “nesting whitefly”, but this name should be used with caution, because it describes the wax-deposition habits of females of many, possibly all, members of this genus. P.minei is clearly a mobile species. It was first discovered in HK by the authors on several host plants in 2003, which were also the first records of this species occurring in Asia. It is now extremely common all over HK and it has recently been found on Costus sp. in West Malaysia (single emerged male + its pupal case, 2009, Martin, BMNH).

Two puparia from Ma On Shan Country Park (NT) were collected from a grass blade, Miscanthus sinensis , and an adult female emerged from each of these. Further adult females were observed nearby, on the same grass species, with the presence of eggs and much secreted wax indicating further colonisation; this may be the first record of any member of the Aleurodicinae developing on a poaceous host, and it was first published by Martin (2004: 67). It is interesting to note that in April 2010 all collected Paraleyrodes samples in HK were P. minei , with P. pseudonaranjae (see below) not observed at all.

HK vouchers in BMNH from Alpinia hainanensis , Aporusa dioica , Aquilaria sinensis ,? Celtis sp. , Citrus grandis , C. reticulata , Desmos chinensis , Elaeocarpus dubius , Emilia sonchifolia , Ficus superba japonica , Gnetum luofuense , Gordonia axillaris , Ilex pubescens , Machilus sp. , M. chekiangensis , Schefflera heptaphylla , Schima superba , Smilax sp. , and undetermined Apocynaceae .

Paraleyrodes pseudonaranjae Martin (2001)

P. pseudonaranjae was described from HK, on Citrus grandis and other hosts, holotype collected at TLF. It is a neotropical native, however, as is P. minei q.v., above. In early reports of this species appearing beyond its native neotropics it had mistakenly been determined as P. naranjae Dozier ( Martin, 2001) . This species is also known in Macau and Hainan, and there is now also West Malaysian material (2007, 2008, 2009) in BMNH. P. pseudonaranjae was not found during intensive collecting in HK in April 2010 —see P. minei , above.

HK vouchers are in BMNH from Annona squamosa , Aporusa dioica , Bridelia tomentosa , Citrus grandis , C. paradisi , Ficus microcarpa , Glochidion zeylanicum , Gnetum luofuense , Ilex ? asprella , Liquidambar formosana , Randia spinosa , Rhododendron pulchrum and Smilax ? glabra .

Aphidoidea— Aphididae

The taxonomic arrangement of family-group names in the Aphididae , especially certain of the smaller subfamilies, has been very fluid in recent years. Remaudière & Remaudière (1997) published a catalogue of world aphids, but corrections to some family-group names were published by Nieto Nafria et. al. (1998). We have therefore followed the Remaudière & Remaudière system with the Nieto Nafria et. al. corrections.