An annotated checklist of the psyllids (Hemiptera, Psylloidea) of Norfolk Island with keys to species, new records, and descriptions of two new endemic species

By

Martoni, Francesco
Tweed, James M. H.
Blacket, Mark J
Percy, Diana

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-5-19

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1238

Pages

297--348

Subjects

Acizzia , Alyxia , Australia , Dodonaea , endemism , New Zealand , Pseudophacopteron , southwest Pacific , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1238.124535

 

Abstract

Norfolk Island is a small, isolated archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, 1400 km east of the Australian mainland. The history of human colonisation and land use on the island has resulted in a substantial reduction in the extent and quality of indigenous habitat. A quarantine survey of Norfolk Island in 2012–2014 provided the first records of psyllid species, reporting six taxa from the island. Additional collection records are provided that increase the number to 14 species, of which nine are regarded as adventive, four as native of which two are endemic, and one whose additional distribution is unknown. Two species are formally described here and are the first psyllid species to be described from Norfolk Island. These new species, Pseudophacopteron aewagriini Percy & Martoni, sp. nov. (Aphalaridae) and Acizzia aliceae Percy & Martoni, sp. nov. (Psyllidae) are both considered endemic to Norfolk Island and are associated with native plants, the endemic Alyxia gynopogon (Apocynaceae) and the native Dodonaea viscosa (Sapindaceae), respectively. In addition to an updated checklist, identification keys to adults and immatures of the psyllids found on Norfolk Island and DNA barcodes for all species are provided. Both new species have had complete mitochondrial genomes sequenced in a previous study and here a full annotation of the mitochondrial genome of Acizzia aliceae Percy & Martoni, sp. nov. is supplied. Lastly, the barcode data was analysed in a maximum likelihood constraint framework with previous genome data to investigate the phylogenetic origins of the Norfolk Island taxa.