Covidaleyrodes flos Dubey & Evans, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Dubey, Anil Kumar
name: Evans, Gregory A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aleyrodidae
Covidaleyrodes
Covidaleyrodes flos

description: Covidaleyrodes flos sp. nov.
(Figs 2–7)
Diagnosis. Puparia of the new species are distinguishable in having thoracic and caudal tracheal pores, lobulate margin and in lacking pro, meso, and metathoracic setae.
Body wax shape. The dorsal surface of puparium with thin layer of white wax; body margin with a fringe of white wax threads; wax accumulated near margin, somewhat raised dorsally, forming a small oval pit that is housing the puparium (Fig. 2).
Puparium. Black, with secretion of white wax, puparium with wax deposit over dorsal side appears smoky; oval (Fig. 6A); dimorphic in size, ♀ 1450–1470 μm long, 1270–1280 μm wide; ♂ 1100–1150 μm long, 750–870 μm wide; found in groups on the underside of leaves, 6–24 puparia in each group per leaf, male and female puparia in separate groups on separate leaves.
Margin. Lobulate, each lobe longer than wide (Figs 4C, 4D, 6B), smoothly crenulate in folded margin (Figs 3A, 4B); 10–11 crenulations in 0.1 mm. Caudal and thoracic tracheal pores indicated at tracheal pore opening areas with C-shaped invaginations (Figs 4E, 6C, 6G). Anterior and posterior marginal setae ♀ 14–19 μm, 29–34 μm; ♂ 12–16 μm, 26–27 μm long, respectively.
Dorsum. Dorsal disc pigmented in bleached puparium (Fig. 4A), corrugated. Submargin demarcated from dorsal disc by a furrow, slightly raised in live puparia, 122–174 μm wide; submargin with transverse ridges. Thoracic and caudal tracheal furrows absent. Longitudinal moulting suture reaching submarginal crease anteriorly (Figs 3A, 4F). Transverse moulting sutures turning anteriorly and reaching parallel to metathoracic legs near submarginal crease. Pro-meso- and meso-metathoracic sutures faint (Fig. 4A), much clearer in SEM images (Fig. 6A). Abdominal intersegmental sutures faintly visible on segments VI–VIII. Median length of abdominal segment VII not reduced, subequal to segment VI. Median length of abdominal segments VI–VIII, 50–55, 45–50, 48–57 μm, respectively. Outer subdorsal area with fine irregular wavy markings (Fig. 4J). Paired pores/porettes present, two rows on submedian area, one irregular row on subdorsum (6 pairs on cephalothorax and 10–11 pairs on abdomen) with pore/ porette spacing 5–8 μm, and a row on submargin, 48–49 pairs, with pore/porette spacing 12–13 μm; pore/porette distance 2–3 times of the large pore diameter. Submedian pair of pores/porettes also present on abdominal segment VII. Distance between vasiform orifice and caudal pore opening 267–280 μm in female, 170–157 μm in male. Pockets discontinuous (Fig. 4G).
Vasiform orifice. Subcordate (Fig. 6E); not elevated posteriorly; ♀ 77–82 μm long, 76–78 μm wide; ♂ 70–87 μm long, 58–65 μm wide; operculum subcordate, completely filling the orifice and concealing the lingula, as long as wide, ♀ 54–59 μm long, 83–89 μm wide, ♂ 42–50 μm long, 45–48 μm wide. Lingula concealed.
Venter. Oval (Figs 3D, 7A); pigmented except broad submarginal area (Fig. 5A). The oval markings of submedian depressions prominent (Fig. 5B). A pair of ventral setae 25–32 μm long, mediolateral to vasiform orifice, 97–107 μm apart in female, 75–80 μm apart in male. Thoracic tracheal folds present, without stipples (Figs 5C, 7B). Caudal tracheal fold with a few small tubercles only on the pigmented area (Figs 5D, 7C). Antennae extending laterally across prothoracic legs, reaching near base of prothoracic legs, 87–112 μm long in female, 80–85 μm long in male (including keel in both).
Chaetotaxy. Cephalic setae (Fig. 4H) and first abdominal setae (Figs 4I, 6D) present, eighth abdominal setae located cephalolateral to vasiform orifice (Figs 4K, 6F), all lanceolate, 2–4 μm long. Caudal setae absent. Submarginal setae lanceolate, 12 pairs, 4 pairs on cephalothorax and 8 pairs on abdomen, 7–13 μm long.
Host plant. A woody climber, Artabotrys speciosus Kurz ex Hook. f. & Thomson (Annonaceae).
Distribution. India: Andaman Islands, Ferargunj forests.
Etymology. The species name is made of the Latin noun in apposition ‘ flos ’ meaning ‘ flower ’, referring to the flower-like appearance of puparia in life.
Holotype. INDIA: puparium, ♀; Andaman and Nicobar Islands, South Andaman, Port Blair, Ferargunj forests; one puparium on slide, on Artabotrys speciosus; 24 January 2021; 11º44′11.53′′ N, 92º39′13.90′′ E; A. K. Dubey (Deposited in the ZSI, Headquarter, Kolkata, India).
Paratypes. Forty puparia (♀ 33, ♂ 7) on 15 slides, data same as for the holotype (14 slides deposited in the ZSI, Kolkata and one slide bearing one puparium in the National Forest Insect Collection, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun), and two female puparia on card used in SEM analysis (same data as holotype, ZSI, Kolkata).
Remarks. Some of the male puparia have dark pores, possibly due to less bleaching. The intersegmental sutures and depressions are faint on the cephalothoracic and anterior abdominal segments: on the ventral surface, only the submedian depressions are prominent, and on the dorsal surface, only a few abdominal segment sutures. The minute, lanceolate first abdominal setae are much clearer on the SEM image (Fig. 6F) than on slide mounted puparia. Female colonies were more numerous than male colonies. Female puparia are broadly oval whereas male puparia are smaller, narrowly oval in shape, and both male and female puparia groups were found on separate leaves of the host plant. This phenomenon was not reported earlier, and is considered here as the first observation.
description: Published as part of Dubey, Anil Kumar & Evans, Gregory A., 2025, Covidaleyrodes flos, a new whitefly genus and species (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) infesting an endemic woody climber, Artabotrys speciosus (Magnoliales: Annonaceae) in the Andaman Islands, India, pp. 379-388 in Zootaxa 5620 (2) on pages 382-385, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5620.2.10, http://zenodo.org/record/15219245