Tetralicia coachellensis
Creators: name: Ellenrieder, Natalia Von
name: Gill, Raymond J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aleyrodidae
Tetralicia
Tetralicia coachellensis

description: Tetralicia coachellensis (Drews & Sampson, 1958)
Figs 7, 69–81
Aleuropleurocelus coachellensis Drews & Sampson, 1958: 120; Mound & Halsey 1978: 59; Evans 2007: 170; Carapia-Ruiz 2020a: 273.
Tetralicia coachellensis: Valencia & Evans 2024: 216.
Material examined. 39 puparia: U.S.A., California; 36 slide mounted: San Diego County: 2, Jacumba, 8.i.1958, G.L. Nill coll. [USNM]; 3, same data but on desert shrub, 16.vi.1982, J. Berrian coll., CDFA PDR 82F11-13 [CSCA]; Imperial County: Neotype (here designated; puparium circled with red on slide), Finney Lake near Brawley, on Pluchea sericea, 31.i.1982, D. Hayward coll. [CSCA]; 17, same data as neotype [CSCA]; 4, Brawley, on Baccharis sp., 8.vii.1964, Taylor & Gammon coll. [USNM]; 3, Winterhaven, on Stephanomeria sp., 29.vi.1972, Davis & Paddock coll. [CSCA]; No county indicated: 4, Cap. Co., on Pluchea sericea, 25.v.1966, D. Gerling coll. [USNM]; 1 dry mounted (fragmented and incomplete, likely freshly molted): Riverside County: Coachella, on arrowweed, #14 [ex Sampson coll., CSCA]. Arizona, Maricopa County: 3, Luke Field, on Ambrosia artemisiifolia, 26.v.1955, J.J. Bibby coll. [USNM].
Hosts. Asteraceae: Arrowweed (Pluchea sericea), baccharis (Baccharis sp.), common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), wirelettuce (Stephanomeria sp.); and an unidentified desert shrub.
Characterization.
Field characteristics. Pupal case elliptical (Fig. 7), black. According to Drews & Sampson (1958) the pupa lacks any wax secretions.
Slide-mounted characters. TMS ending at apparent margin, not lined with tubercles (Figs 69, 70); longitudinal molting suture lined with tubercles from T2/T3 suture to level of mouthparts (Fig. 69); eyespots absent; Ce setae absent; T2 and T3 setae present, T3 setae arising well behind anterior margin of metanotum (Figs 69, 70, 72); medial area with depressions on T2 (1) and T3 (1); depressions on anterolateral margins of abdominal segments indistinct (Fig. 75) to insinuated (Fig. 74), with pores and microsetae on each side of submedial area of head (2–4), T2 (0–2), T3 (0–2), A1 (2), A2 (0–2), A3 (2–4), A4 (2), A5 (2), A6 (0–2), A7 (2), and A8 (2); lateral areas of dorsal disc lacking large tubercles, with variable number of small tubercles (Figs 74, 76, 77), sometimes restricted to lateral ends of abdominal sutures (Fig. 75) or faintly marked; abdominal sutures lined with minute granulations (Figs 74, 76, 77); with pores and microsetae between sides of dorsal disc and submargin (Fig. 77); dorsal submargin lacking tubercles or imbrications (Figs 71, 72); deflexed submargin with sparce granulations along teeth bases (Fig. 73); marginal glandular teeth subquadragular with tips finely toothed (Fig. 78); VO oval, inset from posterior margin by about its own length or slightly less; operculum cordate, its dorsal surface with a few longitudinal ridges and with microspinulae across distal third to fourth; lingula concealed by operculum; VO ring oval and of relatively wide (Figs 78–81), with dorsal setae of A8 arising anterior to level of anterior margin of operculum (Figs 78–81); with four membranous ventral sacs medially to bases of mesothoracic and metathoracic legs; bases of caudal setae arising from level of lateral margins of operculum to level of lateral margins of VO ring (Figs 78–81); venter smooth except for groups of spinulae medially to leg bases (Fig. 73).
Measurements (values of neotype in square brackets). Puparium length: 797 ± 109 [698]; maximum width (between level of A2–A3): 490 ± 95 [388]; length/maximum width: 1.6 ± 0.1 [1.8]; width at level of anterior margin of operculum: 263 ± 81 [194]; maximum width/width at anterior margin of operculum: 1.9 ± 0.2 [2]; deflexed submargin/body radius: 0.5 ± 0.1 [0.5]; Ce setae: absent; T2 setae: 10 ± 2 [none visible]; T3 setae: 17 ± 10 [none visible]; dorsal A8 setae: 10 ± 4 [none visible]; caudal setae: 62 ± 18 [46]; anterior marginal setae: 10 ± 2 [none visible]; posterior marginal setae: 15 ± 5 [none visible]; ventral A8 setae: 19 ± 7 [none visible]; VO ring length: 61 ± 9 [58]; VO ring width: 59 ± 9 [57]; VO ring length/width: 1 ± 0.1 [1]; caudal seta/VO ring length: 0.9 ± 0.1 [0.8]; caudal seta/operculum length: 1.2 ± 0.2 [1.2]; VO length: 41 ± 3 [40]; VO width: 39 ± 2 [39]; VO length/width: 1.1 ± 0.1 [1]; operculum length: 40 ± 3 [39]; operculum/VO length: 1 ± 0.05 [1] (see Table 1 for ranges).
Similar species. It resembles T. ceanothi, T. laingi, T. ornata, and T. sierrae based on the combination of TMS reaching apparent margin, longitudinal suture lined with tubercles, deflexed submargin as wide as 0.4–0.7 of body radius, and puparium elliptical to oval. Among them it is most similar to T. laingi by the lack of marked imbrications or tubercles on dorsal submargin.
Diagnosis. It differs from T. laingi by its elliptical puparium apparently lacking any lateral wax (Figs 7, 69) [broadly oval with a wide band of striated lateral wax in T. laingi, Figs 127] and by having minute granulations along sutures and small tubercles on sides of dorsal disc (Figs 75–77) [with large tubercles across anteromedial margin of each A1–A6 and lacking minute granulations along sutures and tubercles on sides of dorsal disc in T. laingi; Figs 127, 132], and from T. ceanothi, T. ornata, and T. sierrae by the lack of imbrications or tubercles on dorsal submargin (Figs 71, 75–77, 79) [Figs 51, 52, 57–60, 178, 203, 205].
Remarks. The original description of T. coachellensis (Drews & Sampson 1958) did not include type designations, number of type specimens and type depository were not indicated, and only a 'Type locality' was given: 'Coachella, California. Collected south of the town on Avenue 52 about one mile from State Highway 111, November 20, 1953 by E.A. Drews.' No specimens matching these data were located in any major California collection, and we believe that its type series is lost. To ensure the nomenclatorial stability of the name we consider it necessary to designate a neotype, which was selected among specimens collected on its typical host plant about 60 miles southeast of its type locality along highway 111 with the following data: Imperial County, Finney Lake near Brawley, on Pluchea sericea, 31.i.1982, D. Hayward coll. [CSCA]. The neotype is here illustrated (Figs 69–71, 80) and measured (see under Measurements).
Among the portion of W.W. Sampson's collection that was donated to CSCA, there was only one unmounted partially broken puparium of T. coachellensis which, judging by its pale and thin cuticle (Fig. 7), was freshly molted. If this specimen was part of the series used for its description and other puparia from the type series were also freshly molted, this might explain the absence of wax around lateral margin mentioned as characteristic for this species, which could be simply a reflection of its developmental stage, with older pupae possibly having lateral wax as do other species in this genus.
In the key in Valencia & Evans (2024: 210), this species is considered to lack T2 setae. However, all the specimens we examined do have T2 setal sockets (Figs 76, 77, 79), and in a few of these setae are not missing or broken off (measurements included in Table 1).
Distribution. Desert areas of Southern California (Imperial, Riverside, and San Diego Counties), Arizona (record in this paper), and Baja California in Mexico (Carapia-Ruiz 2020a).
description: Published as part of Ellenrieder, Natalia Von & Gill, Raymond J., 2024, The genus Tetralicia Harrison (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aleyrodidae) in California, U. S. A., with the description of five new species and a redescription of Tetralicia granulata Sampson & Drews, 1941, pp. 1-129 in Zootaxa 5527 (1) on pages 23-24, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5527.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14021823