Three new species of gall-forming psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) from Papua New Guinea, with new records and notes on related species

ABSTRACT

Three new species of gall-forming psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) in the families Triozidae and Phacopteronidae are described from Papua New Guinea: Trioza incrustata Percy, sp. nov. makes enclosed leaf margin galls on Celtis philippensis (Cannabaceae), Trioza grallata Percy, sp. nov. makes enclosed leaf surface galls on Elaeocarpus schlechterianus (Elaeocarpaceae), and Cornegenapsylla allophyli Malenovský and Percy, sp. nov. makes enclosed leaf margin galls on Allophylus cobbe (Sapindaceae). Descriptions of the adult and immature morphology for these new species are provided, and differences in adult and immature morphology between Cornegenapsylla allophyli and Cornegenapsylla sinica Yang and Li, 1982 (the type species of Cornegenapsylla) are illustrated. We report new records for Papua New Guinea of Pseudophacopteron tuberculatum (Crawford, 1912) on Alstonia sp. (Apocynaceae), Pauropsylla triozoptera Crawford, 1913 on Ficus trachypison (Moraceae) and Pauropsylla udei Rübsaamen, 1899 on Ficus variegata, with descriptions of the variation found in the latter two widespread Asian species. Pauropsylla reticulata Mathur, 1975 is synonymized with P. udei. Mitochondrial DNA barcodes for the new species, as well as for P. triozoptera and P. udei are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• galling biology
• mitochondrial DNA barcode
• morphology
• Phacopteronidae
• taxonomy
• Triozidae

Acknowledgements

D.M.P. is grateful to Adrian Loo and Jeffrey Lee for assistance in the field in Singapore. I.M. thanks Daniel Burckhardt (Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Switzerland) for his support and inspiring discussions during the revision of the Phacopteronidae systematics and Jérôme Constant (IRNB) and Vojtěch Novotný (Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice) for loans or gifts of material. We are grateful to Daniel Burckhardt, David Ouvrard, and one anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Geolocation information

Trioza incrustata (point): 5°11ʹS, 145°47ʹE; 5°8ʹS, 145°46ʹE; 5°13ʹS, 145°40ʹE.

Trioza grallata (point): 06°08ʹS, 146°52ʹE.

Pauropsylla triozoptera (point): 22.0499°N, 120.8576°E.

Pauropsylla udei (point): 5°11ʹS, 145°47ʹE; 5°13ʹS, 145°40ʹE; 1.353°N, 103.778°E.

Cornegenapsylla allophyli (point): 5°11ʹS, 145°47ʹE.

Additional information

Funding

P.T.B. is grateful for funding from the European Union Centre of Excellence for the global study of the function and biodiversity of forest ecosystems (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0064), the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (13-10486S), the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia (136/20101/P), the US National Science Foundation (Division of Environmental Biology 0515678), the Christensen Fund (USA), and the UK Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species (14/054), which supported the PNG fieldwork. Funding for the molecular work was provided by the Natural History Museum Life Sciences Departmental Investment Fund (SDF13001) to D.M.P.