Dentifibula obtusilobae Felt

Fig. 11.

Dentifibula obtusilobae Felt 1915: 176 . Sri Lanka: Peradeniya, Botanic Gardens, syntypes (male and two females) in New York State Museum, Albany, USA.

One of the few reared species of Dentifibula, it was reared from Pinnaspis aspidistrae (Signoret) (Diaspididae) (as Hemichionspis aspidistrae) and a few specimens of Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret) (Diaspididae) (as Aspidiotus lataniae) found in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Paradeniya, Sri Lanka, on Piper nigrum L. (Piperaceae) It is known from a male and two females, all poorly mounted in Canada balsam without benefit of clearing. Harris (1968) in his revision of cecidomyiids preying on coccoids stated that the material of this species was limited in quantity and quality so that their usefulness was questionable. The recognizable parts of the male terminalia (Fig. 11) are the apically pointed gonocoxites with an apical sensory peg, a generally cylindrical gonostylus, and a straight aedeagus that is about three-fourths the length of the gonocoxites. One of the females fits the genus with its elongate flagellomere necks and numerous, short, ventral cercal setae, but the other female lacks its head and the cerci are obscured. One supposes D. obtusilobae could be found again at the type locality.