Perilampsis curta Munro, 1939

Meyer, Marc De, 2009, Taxonomic revision of the fruit fly genus Perilampsis Bezzi (Diptera, Tephritidae), Journal of Natural History 43 (39 - 40), pp. 2425-2463 : 2446-2447

Perilampsis curta Munro

( Figure 2A ) Perilampsis curta Munro, 1938, p. 165 . Perilampsis curta: Munro, 1939b (relationship P. diademata ); Cogan and Munro, 1980, p. 530 (Afrotropical catalogue); Norrbom et al., 1999, p. 186 (world catalogue).

Diagnosis

Arista pubescent; scutum with two transverse bands; postpronotum white; scutellum white; anatergite and katatergite brown; legs yellow with femora dark; wing, anterior apical band complete, touching discal band, posterior apical band present, discal band not reaching posterior margin; abdomen mainly shining black-brown.

Description

Head. Antennal segments orange-brown. Arista short pubescent, longest rays at most equal to width of base of arista. Frons ventral half yellow-white, dorsal part orange brown. Two frontals, placed parallel to medial eye margin; two orbitals, placed slightly convergent with anterior orbital located more medially. Face white, with dark transverse band near antennal implant. Occiput yellow, with pair of distinct black patches in dorsal part.

Thorax. Scutum shining brown; dark dispersed pilosity, two transverse bands with more dense silvery pilosity and microtrichosity, one anteriorly of transverse suture, second near dorsocentrals. Postpronotum white. Anepisternum brown, with white band occupying posterodorsal part, its ventral margin reaching posteroventral corner or almost so; with pale pilosity; one anepisternal seta. Anatergite and katatergite brown. Scutellum white. Subscutellum brown. Legs yellow, femora darker yellow to brown.

Wing ( Figure 2A ). Wing bands brown, well developed. Basal part of wing brown, subbasal irregular spots and streaks present. Anterior apical band completely filling cells r 1 and r 2+3. Posterior apical band touching anterior apical band. Subapical band isolated. Discal band not reaching posterior wing margin; touching anterior apical band near pterostigma; largely merged with subbasal spots and streaks. R-M ratio 0.88–1.0.

Abdomen. Shining black-brown (orange-brown in holotype), posterior margin of tergites 2–4 with orange-brown and silvery band; tergite 5 completely yellow-brown. Female. As male except for following characters: arista slightly longer pubescent. Abdomen darker coloured. Female terminalia, oviscape shorter than abdominal tergites, black-brown colour, with black pilosity. Aculeus not dissected.

Body length. 3.80–4.40 mm; wing length 4.20–4.90 mm.

Material examined

Holotype. 3, KENYA, Nairobi , June 1937, bred ex Loranthus 2, van Someren ( BMNH).

Other material. KENYA: ♀ allotype, same data as holotype ( BMNH) . MOZAM- BIQUE: 13, Masiena , August 1924, G.V. Dam ( NMSA) . TANZANIA: 13, Dar es Salaam, 24.VII.1918, A.W.J. Pomeroy ( BMNH) ; 13, Mikese (S6°46′41″ E37°55′22″), 18–25.VII.2005, protein bait, SUA-RMCA fruit fly project T1240 ( KMMA) .

Distribution

Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania.

Hosts

Reared from fruits of Erianthemum dregei (Eckl.andZeyh.) Tiegh (type material, see Munro (1938)) in Kenya.

Comments

When describing this species, Munro (1938) indicated the close relationship with P. diademata . Munro (1939b) further elaborated on this close resemblance. The only female of P. curta examined can be readily separated by the length of the oviscape (shorter than abdomen in P. curta ; as long as, or longer than abdomen in P. diademata ). Males usually can be separated by the colouration of the abdominal tergites being brownish in P. curta and bright reddish in P. diademata . However, the holotype of P. curta also has an orange-brown abdomen (described as strongly reddish in Munro (1938) but later Munro (1939b) explained this description as being relative to the other Perilampsis species. Females have a darker abdomen. Except for some slight difference in the pubescence of the arista (short pubescent in P. curta , almost bare in P. diademata ), there are no characteristics to separate male P. curta with reddish abdomen from P. diademata . Currently all male Perilampsis specimens from southern Africa with bright red abdomen are placed under P. diademata . The specific status of P. curta should, however, be re-examined once additional material becomes available especially from eastern Africa.

Figures

Figure 2. Wings of Perilampis species. (A) curta; (B) decellei; (C) diademata; (D) dryades; (E) miratrix; (F) pulchella; (G) unita; (H) furcata; (I) rubella sp. nov.; (J) woodi.