Resolving an 87-year-old taxonomical curiosity with the description of Psylla frodobagginsi sp. Nov. (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Psyllidae), a second distinct Psylla species on the New Zealand endemic plant kōwhai

Abstract

A recent DNA-based assessment of the psyllid fauna of New Zealand recorded high genetic variation between populations that were expected to belong to the same psyllid species. Among these, a number of populations of the kōwhai psyllid Psylla apicalis (Ferris & Klyver, 1932), from a kōwhai species, Sophora microphylla Aiton (Fabaceae), presented high genetic variability. This gave new endorsement of an 87-year-old observation made by the entomologists Ferris and Klyver who, when describing the kōwhai psyllid, from Sophora tetraptera J.S. Muell., suggested that morphological variations could support more than one species. Accordingly, the morphological assessment conducted here, together with the genetic information now available, resulted in the description of Psylla frodobagginsi sp. nov. as a second New Zealand endemic psyllid species hosted by S. microphylla.