Diversity and origin of venezuelan aphidofauna (Hemiptera: Aphidoidea)

Abstract

The present paper updates Cermeli’s 1990 list of Venezuelan aphid fauna, we emphasize on the origin and world distribution of the species. Ninetyfour species and 60 genera are reported in the three families of the Superfamily Aphidoidea. Adelgidae and Phylloxeridae is each represented by one species, the rest of the species belong to the Aphididae. Of the twenty recognized subfamilies of Aphididae, eigth are present: Aphidinae, Chaitophorinae, Hormaphidinae, Lachninae, Lizeriinae, Myzocallidinae, Neophyllaphidinae and Pemphiginae. More than 80% of the species and 73% of the genera belong to the Subfamily Aphidinae. The majority of the species present in Venezuela are cosmopolitan or originary of other regions, distributed as follows: 24 from the Neartic (25,53%), 18 from Paleartic (19,25 %), 10 from Holartic (10,64 %), 16 Oriental (17,02 %), four from Ethiopic (4,26 %). Only 12 species (12,26 %) are Neotropical, and of those only four species (4,26 %) are endemic or were described from Venezuela.