Abstract
A faunistic review of the genus Chaitophorus Koch, 1854, including four species in Iraq is given; the distribution data of each species and their hosts have been recorded. In this investigation the poplar leaf aphid Ch. populialbae (Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1841) is recorded here for the first time in Iraq on popular trees Populus euphratica Oliv. during the period from November 2016 to April 2017 in Baghdad province. A brief description for apterous viviparous female of this species is given; and a key to the species of the genus Chaitophorus is constricted.
Highlights
Most of the species of the tribe Chaitophorini are monoecious holocyclic and infest plant families which belong to Salicaceae (Populus and Salix) and Aceraceae (Blackman and Eastop, 1994), there is a difficulty to distinguish between species of Chaitophorinae based on their morphological characteristics, the tribe Chaitophorini has clear morphological differences between genera; separating between Chaitophorus species using morphology has always been problematic because of the fact that the morphological differences between species within these genera are relatively slight (Hille Ris Lambers, 1960; Pintera, 1987; Zhu et al, 2017)
Chaitophorus is a typical genus of the Chaitophorinae: it is the largest genus in the subfamily and is well known from Europe and Asia (Pintera, 1987); This genus consists of about 109 valid species (Zhu et al, 2017) and distribution in the Palaearctic and Nearctic zoogeographical regions; in addition to the species of plant family Salicaceae as a host some Chaitophorus species infest limited host belongs to Vitaceae, Daucaceae and Compositae (Pintera, 1987)
Very little attention had been given to the study of this group in Iraq; a total of four species are known from the genus Chaitophorus in Iraq, these species are Ch. euphraticus Hodjat, Ch. leucomelas Koch and Ch. nigritus Hille Ris Lambers (Kaddou, 1966; Daoud and El-Haidari, 1968; Al-Ali, 1977); in addition to Ch. populialbae (Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1841) which recorded here as new record species to aphid fauna of Iraq which are listed in the present study
Summary
The subfamily Chaitophorinae (Homoptera: Aphididae) divided into two tribes Chaitophorini and Siphini, comprises about 170 species within 12 genera (Wieczorek et al, 2017); the distribution range of this subfamily is mainly in the Palaearctic (about 80% of species), and Nearctic region (Wieczorek, 2010; Zhu et al, 2017). Chaitophorus is a typical genus of the Chaitophorinae: it is the largest genus in the subfamily and is well known from Europe and Asia (Pintera, 1987); This genus consists of about 109 valid species (Zhu et al, 2017) and distribution in the Palaearctic and Nearctic zoogeographical regions; in addition to the species of plant family Salicaceae as a host some Chaitophorus species infest limited host belongs to Vitaceae, Daucaceae and Compositae (Pintera, 1987)
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