Biodiversity Data Journal : Taxonomic paper
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Taxonomic paper

Casuarinicola australis Taylor, 2010 (Hemiptera: Triozidae), newly recorded from New Zealand

expand article info Stephen E. Thorpe ‡
‡ School of Biological Sciences (Tamaki Campus), University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Corresponding author:
Academic editor: Laurence Livermore
Received: 24 Jul 2013 | Accepted: 06 Aug 2013 | Published: 16 Sep 2013
© 2013 Stephen Thorpe
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Thorpe S (2013) Casuarinicola australis Taylor, 2010 (Hemiptera: Triozidae), newly recorded from New Zealand. Biodiversity Data Journal 1: e953. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.1.e953
 Open Access

Abstract

The presence in New Zealand of the triozid Casuarinicola australis Taylor, 2010 is reported for the first time, based on new material from Auckland. This is also the first record of the genus from New Zealand.

Keywords

Casuarinicola australis, Casuarina, New Zealand, Auckland, new record, Triozidae

Introduction

Casuarinicola australis Taylor, 2010 was described from Australia, where it is the most common and widespread member of its genus, being widely distributed in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. Like its congeners, it is restricted to host trees of the genus Casuarina. Casuarinicola australis occurs on all Australian species of Casuarina, including C. cunninghamiana and C. glauca. Both these species of Casuarina are exotic and present in the wild in New Zealand, according to the New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR), as well as present in cultivation. Casuarinicola has not been reported (by name) previously from N.Z.

Taxon treatment

Casuarinicola australis Taylor, 2010

Materials    Download as CSV 
  1. country:
    New Zealand
    ; verbatimLocality:
    Mechanics Bay, Auckland City
    ; verbatimElevation:
    0-5 m
    ; verbatimLatitude:
    36.8474938105S
    ; verbatimLongitude:
    174.7869624545E
    ; eventDate:
    6 January 2013
    ; sex:
    1 male, 1 female
    ; recordedBy:
    Stephen Thorpe
    ; institutionCode:
    Auckland Museum
  2. country:
    New Zealand
    ; verbatimLocality:
    Felton Mathew Avenue, Saint Johns, Auckland
    ; verbatimLatitude:
    36.8741794382S
    ; verbatimLongitude:
    174.8506522179E
    ; eventDate:
    2013-02-20
    ; individualCount:
    1
    ; sex:
    female
    ; recordedBy:
    Stephen Thorpe
    ; institutionCode:
    Auckland Museum
  3. country:
    New Zealand
    ; verbatimLocality:
    Thomas Bloodworth Park, Auckland
    ; verbatimElevation:
    0-5 m
    ; verbatimLatitude:
    36.8652411423S
    ; verbatimLongitude:
    174.7900235653E
    ; eventDate:
    2013-02-26
    ; individualCount:
    many
    ; sex:
    males, females
    ; recordedBy:
    Stephen Thorpe
    ; institutionCode:
    Auckland Museum

Description

On 6 Jan 2013, I examined some Casuarina glauca trees growing in the vicinity of Ports of Auckland at Mechanics Bay. A few psylloids were observed, including a pair in copula, which I collected. The specimens will be vouchered in Auckland Museum. They are easily identified as Casuarinicola australis Taylor in Taylor et al. (2010). According to the original description, "this species can be distinguished from all other species in the genus by the female having three incomplete black terminal bands in the fore wing. The male has clear wings." Actually, the bands on the female fore wing are brown, not "black", and the male fore wing is not completely "clear", having three streaks between the veins, as is obvious from the accompanying figures therein (figs. 3-6). Nevertheless, my material (see Fig. 1) exactly matches figs. 5 and 6 in Taylor et al. (2010), and certainly keys out to C. australis therein, except only that the second and third bands on the female fore wings of my specimen are narrowly joined. Such minor variation is entirely expected for insect colour patterns, and the pattern is still by far closest to that of typical C. australis than it is to any other species of Casuarinicola. I can find no other differences. I therefore recommend that C. australis be added to the New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR) as present in the wild. Its "origin" is "exotic". Subsequently, on 20 Feb 2013, a further female specimen was found on a Casuarina tree in the Auckland suburb of Saint Johns. The second and third bands on the fore wings are separated, though narrowly (Fig. 2). On 26 February 2013, the species was found to be fairly common on Casuarina trees at Thomas Bloodworth Park, Auckland. Several pairs were observed in copula. One female was collected. It has the second and third bands of one forewing joined, and of the other narrowly separated. On Casuarina in Auckland, there is also an apparently undescribed Australian species of Trioza, which is more common and widespread than C. australis.

Figure 1.  

Casuarinicola australis, fore wing of male (above) and female (below, length about 2.4 mm).

Figure 2.  

Casuarinicola australis, fore wing of female from Saint Johns, 20 Feb 2013.

References

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