Abstract
Specific scope: This Standard provides guidance for the identification of Aleurocanthus citriperdus, Aleurocanthus spiniferus and Aleurocanthus woglumi.The family Aleyrodidae is a group of minute hemipteran insects of more than 1610 described species placed in 3 extant sub-families and about 170 genera (Martin & Mound, 2007; Ouvrard & Martin, 2021; Streito & Germain, 2020). The life-cycle is characterized by six developmental stages: the egg, four pre-adult instars and the adult. The first instar is mobile (crawlers), but subsequent immature instars are fixed on the plant. The taxonomy of the group and the recognition of the species is mainly based on the morphology of the fourth instar called ‘puparium’. Aleyrodidae cause damage to plants directly by sucking sap and indirectly by transmitting plant viruses, and excreting copious amounts of honeydew, which coat leaf and fruit surfaces and lead to mould infection.