Discovery of Aleuroclava canangae (Corbett) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) on Coleus in India and the establishment and review of the Aleuroclava canangae species group

ABSTRACT

Aleuroclava canangae (Corbett, 1935) was discovered on an ornamental Coleus species in Kerala, India, and represents the first occurrence of this species in India and on this plant host. The species is redescribed and illustrations of the puparium and adult males and females are provided along with morphometric data. A molecular analysis of the species using the COI gene was conducted to characterise it, determine its genetic lineage and compare it to seven other species of Aleuroclava Singh, 1931 and those of other whitefly genera. Results of the DNA analysis indicate that A. canangae forms a clade with Aleuroclava indica (Singh, 1932) which also has two pairs of very elongate, tuberculate setae which appear two-jointed because they have a wider basal part separated from a long slender apical part by a fine suture. The Aleuroclava canangae species group is established and an illustrated key is provided for the 12 species in the group, all of which were once placed in the genus Martiniella Jesudasan and David, 1990, now a synonym of Aleuroclava. The molecular analysis indicates that A. psidii (Singh, 1931), A. guyavae (Takahashi, 1932), A. montanus (Takahashi, 1939) and A. gordoniae (Takahashi, 1932) form a clade within the genus Aleuroclava and share similar morphological characters. Based on the results of the molecular and morphological analyses, Aleurothrixus trachoides (Back, 1912) is transferred back to Aleurotrachelus trachoides (Back, 1912) based on its morphology and the results of the DNA analysis.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:634C8003-1755-4CB1-B351-00F83D1E5BF9

KEYWORDS:

• Whitefly
• illustrated key to species
• new host
• new distribution
• fauna
• adult whiteflies
• molecular
• nucleotide analysis
• COI gene

Acknowledgements

The authors profusely thank ICAR, New Delhi, for the grant in-aid through Institute Research Project No. 1000765041; we also thank the Director, ICAR-CPCRI, Kasaragod, Kerala, India, and Head, ICAR-CPCRI, Regional Station, Kayamkulam, Kerala, India, for extending all support and facilities for the research programme. We express special gratitude to the Association for Advancement of Entomology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, for their permission to use the images of puparium published in the journal Entomon, and Dr Ian Stocks, who helped with cleaning up and clarifying some of the images used. We are extremely grateful to Ms N. Preetha and Ms K. Ponnu Sugathan for their assistance in processing the samples of the puparia and recording morphometric data. We express sincere gratitude to the two anonymous reviewers for their assistance in critical re-structuring of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was primarily carried out by the senior author (Josephrajkumar) whose work is supported by his institution, ICAR; and the 2nd author (Evans) by his institution USDA.