Dacus (Mellesis) siamensis Drew & Hancock, 1998

Drew, R. A. I., Romig, M. C. & Dorji, C., 2007, Records Of Dacine Fruit Flies And New Species Of Dacus (Diptera: Tephritidae) In Bhutan, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 55 (1), pp. 1-21 : 18

Dacus (Mellesis) siamensis Drew & Hancock

Dacus (Callantra) siamensis Drew & Hancock , in Drew et al., 1998: 626. Holotype male in BMNH.

Material examined. – BHUTAN: 1 male, Suntalay , 22 May.2000, coll. S.W. & S. Dorji ; 1 male, Suntalay , 5 Jun.2000, coll. S. Wangdi, T.D. & S.D .; 1 male, Suntalay , 5 Jun.2000 ; 1 male, Purana Bastey , 23 Nov.2004, coll. Karma Namgyel & Maha Prasard. All specimens attracted to cue lure. Specimens in NPPC and QDPI .

Diagnosis. – Face fulvous with a ‘U’ shaped black pattern consisting of medium sized oval black spots connected with a narrow black band across the dorsal margin of face; scutum primarily dull black, postpronotal lobes dark fuscous to black, notopleura yellow, mesopleural stripe slightly wider than notopleuron dorsally, lateral and medial postsutural vittae absent; a yellow triangle along anterior margin of mesonotal suture with base at notopleuron; setae: sc. 2; prsc. absent; ia. 1; p.sa. 1; a.sa. 1; mpl. 1; npl. 2; scp. 4; scutellum yellow except for a narrow black basal band; legs with all femora entirely black (tending paler on apices of mid femora), all tibiae entirely dark fuscous, fore tarsi with all segments fuscous, mid and hind tarsi with basal segments fulvous and apical four segments fuscous; wings with cells bc and c dark fuscous, dense microtrichia covering all of cell c and most of cell bc, a broad dark fuscous costal band overlapping R 4+5, cubital streak absent, in some specimens there is a very pale fuscous tint throughout most of wing membrane, supernumerary lobe weak; abdomen elongate, club shaped and petiolate, all terga generally dark fuscous to black except fulvous along intersegmental line between terga I and II and, in some specimens, dark orange-brown posterocentrally on terga IV and V.

Attractant. – Cue lure.

Distribution. – Central and northern Thailand. New record for Bhutan.

Hosts. – No known record.

Remarks. – This species has been adequately described and illustrated in Drew et al. (1998). It is readily distinguished by the following characters: scutum black, postpronotal lobes black, notopleura yellow, anatergite black, katatergite mostly yellow, face fulvous with an inverted U-shaped black pattern, costal band overlapping R 4+5, cells bc and c dark fuscous, femora and tibiae mostly black, abdominal terga mostly black. It is not a pest species.