A new species of Atheroides Haliday (Hemiptera, Aphididae) native to North America.

Gary L Miller,Andrew S Jensen,Robert R Parmenter,Mark A Metz

doi:10.3897/zookeys.452.8089

Abstract

We report and describe the first species of Atheroides Haliday presumed to be native to North America, collected at the Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico, USA. We hypothesize its placement among the Siphini based on morphological, phylogenetic analysis and extend the distribution of the genus to the Holoarctic. We expand the key of the known Atheroides to include the new species and discuss the current hypotheses of the geographic distribution of the type species, Atheroides serrulatus Haliday.

Highlights

The Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico, USA, constitute a “sky island” at the southern end of the Rocky Mountains of North America
In this paper we report and describe the first species presumed to be native to North America; hypothesize its placement among the Siphini based on morphological, phylogenetic analysis; and unquestioningly expand the distribution of the genus to Holoarctic
We have shown that A. vallescaldera is morphologically most similar to A. serrulatus among described Atheroides, yet there are clear morphological differences between the species

Summary

Introduction

The Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico, USA, constitute a “sky island” at the southern end of the Rocky Mountains of North America. This area serves as a Pleistocene biological refugium, supporting high-elevation ecosystems left behind by the last retreating Ice Age 20,000 years ago (Goff 2009). In the center of the Jemez Mountains lies a super-volcano’s caldera, which today encompasses the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) under the U.S Department of Agriculture. This work constitutes one of the first published accounts of a new species of insect collected at VCNP and unknown from any other locality. Because Atheroides prior to this discovery appeared to have a Palaearctic distribution except for the North American adventive, A. serrulatus, this account may represent the first support for a geologic refuge

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