Aleuroctonus vittatus

(figures 98, 99, 104)

Euderomphale vittata Dozier, 1933: 86–87.

Aleuroctonus vittatus (Dozier), LaSalle and Schauff, 1994: 255.

Diagnosis

Upper frons wide (as in latiscapus (figure 96)); entire antenna white, base of pedicel infuscate; female scape narrow (figure 98) (compared to latiscapus (figure 103)); thoracic dorsum dark with golden-purple tinges, dull, strongly convex; fore coxa dark and metallic, mid and hind coxae white; posterior margin of pale area on gaster straight (figure 104).

Description See Dozier (1933).

Material examined

Type material. In the original description Dozier indicated that he had deposited a female holotype and a male allotype in USNM (type no. 44824), he also stated that the description was based on seven females and three males. In the USNM there are five slides with type material of this species, but only two slides have a number (44824). One of these is also marked ‘ Allotype W ’ and the other is marked ‘ Holotype X, Paratype X ’ (this slide contains two female specimens, the specimen to the left has the head detached from the body and the right specimen is intact). Clearly these two slides contain the type material indicated in the description. However, there are no means to tell which one is the paratype and the holotype female on the one slide. Both these female specimens are very similar to one another. For this reason we regard the right, intact, specimen as holotype (there was no mention in the description that the holotype was broken).

Additional material. 2 X from Costa Rica (BMNH, LUZM); 1 X 1 W from Puerto Rico, reared from an Aleyrodid pupa on coconut (USNM); 1 X from Colombia, reared from an unidentified whitefly (BMNH).

Hosts Unidentified Aleyrodidae on coconut (Cocos nucifera -Palmae).

Distribution Colombia (new record), Costa Rica (new record), Puerto Rico (Dozier, 1933).

Remarks

The material of vittatus accounted for in LaSalle and Schauff (1994) is a mix of vittatus and marki, e.g. the SEM illustrations (figures 37–39 in that paper) depicts marki.