The whitefly of New Guinea (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) J. H. Martin BRITISH (NATURAL HIS. Department of Entomology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Contents Synopsis .................................................................................................... 303 Introduction .............................................................................................. 303 Depositories .............................................................................................. 304 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... 304 Checklist of New Guinea Aleyrodidae, their hosts in New Guinea, and their depositories ............................................................................................ 304 Key to whitefly subfamilies and genera of New Guinea ......................................... 309 Aleurodicinae ............................................................................................ 311 Aleyrodinae ............................................................................................... 313 References ................................................................................................ 337 Index ........................................................................................................ 351 Synopsis The whitefly fauna of New Guinea, including Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea) and the smaller island provinces of Papua New Guinea, is reviewed. Fourteen species are described as new, six are newly synonymized, and five new combinations are established. The checklist of whitefly from New Guinea includes host data and depositories and those whitefly not determined to species. Keys to the subfamilies and genera occurring in New Guinea are provided, to the named species of Aleurocanthus from New Guinea, and to the described species of Parabemisia, Xenaleyrodes and tropical Asian Aleurodicus. Introduction In their systematic review of the whitefly of the world, Mound & Halsey (1978) listed 1156 described species; only five were recorded from New Guinea, based upon material in the British Museum (Natural History). Four of these species, Aleurodicus destructor, Bemisia tabaci, Neomaskellia bergii and Trialeurodes vaporariorum, are widely distributed and well-known pests which had been submitted for identification by agricultural organisations. Previously published records of three species from Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya (Dumbleton, 1954) were not included in Mound & Halsey 's review. In an account of crop pests of Irian Jaya (West Irian), Thomas (1962) lists nine species of whitefly, but careful scrutiny of the introduction to the work indicates that only one (an undetermined Aleurocanthus) had actually been recorded from there; the remaining species were from elsewhere in Indonesia, and from Territory of Papua and New Guinea' (Dumbleton, 1954). Dumbleton, (196 la; 19616) specifically stated that the whitefly fauna of New Guinea was practically unknown, and no publication has appeared since to change the situation. In 1979 the author joined the expedition 'Operation Drake' at its scientific base camp at Buso (7 25 'S, 147 15'E) on the Morobe Province coast of Papua New Guinea, some 80 km south-east of Lae. In the vicinity of Buso, whitefly specimens were collected from angiosperm hosts representing over 60 genera in 35 families, as well as from a number of unidentified hosts; the 780 slide-mounted specimens almost certainly comprise the first significant collection of the group to have been made in New Guinea, over 80 whitefly species being represented as a result of three months collecting in the area. This figure may be compared with 30 records of described species from Australia, 31 from New Caledonia and 11 from New Zealand, the whitefly faunas of these Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Ent.) 50 (3): 303-351 Issued 30 May 1985
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