Trialeurodes asplenii (Maskell, 1890) DISTRIBUTION. New Zealand. HOST PLANTS. Aspleniaceae: Asplenium oblongifolium, Asplenium polyodon; Blechnaceae: Blechnum fluvitale; Dennstaedtiaceae: Paesia scaberula; Dicksoniaceae: Dicksonia squarrosa; Dryopteridaceae: Lastreopsis hispida, Polystichum vestitum; Gleicheniaceae: Sticherus cunninghamii; Hymenophyllaceae: Hymenophyllum demissum; Hymenophyllum sp.; Polypodiaceae: Microsorum pustulatum. COMMENTS. T. asplenii has hitherto been the only named fern­feeding whitefly species in New Zealand. However, there have been about four different morphological forms observed amongst puparia (R. Henderson / N. Martin, personal communication), one of which exactly matches T. dicksoniae (q.v., below), and it is not certain whether this represents the same sort of intra­specific variation commonly seen in some other Trialeurodes species, such as T. vaporariorum or T. ricini. Certainly this species or species­group has a wide range of fern hosts in New Zealand.

Published as part of Martin, Jon H. & Camus, Josephine M., 2001, Whiteflies (Sternorrhyncha, Aleyrodidae) colonising ferns (Pteridophyta: Filicopsida), with descriptions of two new Trialeurodes and one new Metabemisia species from south­east Asia, pp. 1-19 in Zootaxa 2 on page 16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4618039

{"references": ["Maskell, W. M. (1890) On some Aleurodidae from New Zealand and Fiji. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 22, 170 - 176."]}