Heteropeza transmarina Schiner, 1868

Kolesik, Peter & Gagné, Raymond J., 2016, Revision of early taxa of Australian gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), Zootaxa 4205 (4), pp. 301-338 : 330

Heteropeza transmarina Schiner, 1868

[ Fig. 2 i]

Heteropeza transmarina Schiner, 1868: 5 .

Four females were reared from leaf galls on Callistemon sp. ( Myrtaceae ) in Sydney, NSW, between 6th November and 6th December 1858 ( Schiner 1868), and lodged as dry specimens at NHMW. We did not study these types as they are lost; only a pin survives that bears two labels reading “ Heteropeza transmarina det. Mayr.” and “Sidney Coll. Mayr.” respectively.

Associated gall. The adults emerged during the frigate Novara ’s stay in Sydney (pers. comm. by Georg Ritter von Frauenfeld to Schiner (1868)) from leaf galls on Callistemon sp. that were illustrated [ Fig. 2 i] and described by Schiner (1868) as groups of pinhead-sized knots on the upper leaf surface and 2-3 mm long cones with an apical opening on the lower side, each gall with a clavate larval chamber containing a pupa.

Description. Adults. Colour (extracted from Schiner (1868)): [abdomen] vivid reddish yellow, thorax black dorsally, eyes black, legs brownish yellow and dark at posterior ends, antennae brown (terminal flagellomeres missing in all 8 available antennae).

Pupa. Brown-red ( Schiner 1868).

Remarks. The genus of this species cannot be identified based on the original description. The species can be redescribed once new specimens are reared from the gall. We consider this an unplaced species of Cecidomyiinae .

Figures

FIGURE 2. (a) Galls of Lasioptera miscella Skuse on leaf stalks of Eucalyptus haemastoma, (b) leaf galls of Okriomyia omalanthi (Skuse) on Omalanthus populifolius, (c) stem galls of Daphnephila glandifex Kieffer on Machilus gamblei (Lauraceae) from India which Edwards (1916) stated resembled galls of Asphondylia hilli Edwards, (d) flowers galls of Dasineura dielsi Rübsaamen on Acacia cyclops, (e) galls of Cecidomyia eucalypti Skuse (unplaced Cecidomyiinae) on stems of Eucalyptus haemastoma, (f) galls of Mesodiplosis callitridis Kolesik on branch shoot tips of Callitris endlicheri from which the inquiline Gladiodiplosis frenelae (Skuse) was reared, (g) flower galls of Dasineura acaciaelongifoliae (Skuse) on Acacia longifolia, (h) leaf galls attributed to Cecidomyia parilis Skuse (nomen dubium) on Eucalyptus corymbosa, (i) leaf galls of Heteropeza transmarina Schiner (unplaced Cecidomyiinae) on Callistemon sp., (j) flower and vegetative bud galls of Dasineura frauenfeldi (Schiner) on Leptospermum laevigatum. Left: original figure from Schiner (1868); centre: galls collected with type series in 1858; right: galls collected by Kolesik at Queenscliff, Victoria, in 2008. Figures a, b, e – h from Skuse (1890); c from Kieffer (1913 b); d from Rübsaamen (1916); i, j (left) from Schiner (1868).