Heteropsylla flexuosa Muddiman, Hodkinson and Hollis, 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 : 49

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.4564694
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2454C96B-5D17-4162-A3BB-296F5C0DC216
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4564808
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C23E8784-FFE3-FF93-5FA7-9D3D2E7D4BEF
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Heteropsylla flexuosa Muddiman, Hodkinson and Hollis, 1992
status

Treatment

Heteropsylla flexuosa Muddiman, Hodkinson and Hollis, 1992 View in CoL

Materials examined. USA: Florida: Broward County: Port Everglades , 30.i.2013. Acacia farnesiana (Stephen Beidler) ( FSCA # E2013-638 View Materials ) ( FSCA, dry and slide mounted) ; additional specimens from Collier, Hillsborough, Lee Monroe , and Polk counties ( FSCA, dry and slide mounted) .

Diagnosis. This species is one of two species in which the inner lobe of the paramere is modified into a black spine. In H. flexuosa , the spine is hidden in lateral view. Females, with short, truncate terminalia, cannot be separated from those of H. mimosae Crawford.

Distribution. Neotropics ( Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico), western USA (Arizona, California) ( Ouvrard 2020), USA (FL) ( Halbert 2013).

Host plants. Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. ( Fabaceae ).

Comments. Heteropsylla flexuosa was found established at Port Everglades, FL in late January 2013 by DPI inspector Stephen Beidler on Acacia farnesiana (FSCA# E2013-522). This species is similar to Heteropsylla mimosae , which has been in Florida since 1983 (see below). Recent examination of populations from both sites reveals consistent differences in the male terminalia. Unlike H. mimosae , H. flexuosa has spread to Hillsborough (FSCA# E2013-2620), Monroe (FSCA# 2018-5926), Lee (FSCA# E2015-3444), Collier (FSCA# E2016-221), and Polk (FSCA# E2014-7038) counties. The Polk County record is from a suction trap.