Bactrocera (Tetradacus) minax (Enderlein)

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 : 7-8

Bactrocera (Tetradacus) minax (Enderlein)

Polistomimetes minax Enderlein, 1920: 358 . Lectotype male in BMNH.

Mellesis citri Chen, 1940: 133 .

Dacus (Polistomimetes) minax – Drew, 1979: 76.

Bactrocera (Tetradacus) minax – White & Wang, 1992: 276, lectotype designation; Norrbom et al., 1998: 101. Lectotype male in BMNH.

Material examined. – BHUTAN: 1 female and 2 males (17 May.2000) , 3 females and 3 males (24 May.2000), 2 females (31 May.2000), 1 female and 1 male (7 Jun.2000), Rimchu 1, coll. C. Dorji; 1 male, Rimchu 2, 21 Jun.2000 ; 1 female, Rimchu 1, new trap, 12 Jul.2000 , coll. C. Dorji & P. Loday. All specimens attracted to methyl eugenol. Specimens in QDPI .

Diagnosis. – A very large species; face fulvous with narrow elongate facial spots reaching oral margin; scutum red-brown without dark patterns, postpronotal lobes and notopleura yellow, a broad lateral yellow band connecting postpronotal lobe and notopleuron, mesopleural stripe extending to anterior npl. seta dorsally, two broad parallel sided lateral postsutural vittae ending at ia. seta, a short narrow medial longitudinal postsutural vitta; setae: sc. 2; prsc. absent; ia. 1; p.sa. 1; a.sa. absent; mpl. 1; npl. 2; scp. 2; scutellum yellow with a narrow red-brown basal band; legs with all segments mostly fulvous; wings with cells bc and c fuscous, microtrichia in outer corner of cell bc and outer 1/2 of cell c, a broad fuscous costal band overlapping R 4+5 and becoming darker towards the apex but not expanding into a spot, a narrow fuscous cubital streak but not reaching margin of wing, supernumerary lobe weak; abdomen elongate oval and petiolate (similar to many Dacus species ), terga III-V orange-brown with a moderately broad transverse fuscous band across anterior margin of tergum III and a medium width medial longitudinal pale fuscous band over all three terga, anterolateral corners of tergum IV fuscous, anterolateral corners of tergum V pale fuscous.

Attractant. – Weak attraction to methyl eugenol during 2000 field work in Bhutan.

Distribution. – Sikkim, India, Bhutan, China.

Hosts. – A wide range of wild and edible citrus (Family Rutaceae ).

Remarks. – Bactrocera minax (Enderlein) is an extremely large species, probably the largest known Bactrocera . It is readily distinguished by its Dacus (Callantra) like petiolate abdomen shape, general red-brown colour patterns on the thorax and abdomen, broad costal band overlapping R 4+5 and with a dark fuscous spot in apex which is not an expansion of the band. It is a significant pest species.