New genus and species of Aleyrodidae from Eocene Baltic amber (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aleyrodomorpha)

A new genus Rovnodicus gen. n., with new species Rovnodicus wojciechowskii sp. n. is described from Eocene Rovno amber, Ukraine. It is placed in the subfamily Aleurodicinae. It is the first whitefly from this fossil source. Its morphological features and taxonomic position with respect to other Aleurodicinae from the Eocene are briefly discussed. The article outlines the influences of this finding on discussions of the origin, age and taxonomic similarities between Baltic amber from Ukraine and that from the Gulf of Gdańsk and Bitterfeld as well as on palaeoecological reconstructions of the fossil site. The name ‘Aleurochiton eozaenicus WEIGELT 1940’, mentioned as the fossil puparium of a whitefly from the Middle Eocene Geiseltal Fossillagerstätte appears to be nomen nudum