Dacus fuscinervis

White, Ian M. & Goodger, Kim F. M., 2009, African Dacus (Diptera: Tephritidae); New Species and Data, with Particular Reference to the Tel Aviv University Collection, Zootaxa 2127, pp. 1-49 : 5

Group Fuscinervis

Dacus (Dacus) fuscinervis Malloch

Leptoxyda fuscinervis Malloch, 1932: 301

Dacus (Dacus) doryloides Munro, 1939a: 32

Material. KENYA: 1 male, Rift Valley, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, 1825m., 0o2.62’N, 36o58.53’E, 1 – 14.vii.2006, malaise trap, R.S. Copeland ( BMNH). TANZANIA: 1 Female, Same, Rt.B1, 8 – 16.ix.1992, A. Freidberg, ( TAU).

Remarks. These specimens represents the first record of the species from East Africa although they differ from southern African specimens in lacking anterior supra-alar setae (variant included in revised key; revised couplet 137), and in having the anepisternal stripe extended onto the katepisternum. White (2006) noted in coded description data (provided on CD-ROM) that the aculeus “appears laterally compressed” but did not transcribe this annotation to the main paper. A specimen from Tanzania appears to be the same species and has distinct lateral compression, and bilateral symmetry in the lateral view, i.e. the aculeus displays what White (2006) called “torsion”. Re-examination of the holotype of D. doryloides (BMNH) confirms that it is similar (the holotype of L. fuscinervis , USNM, was re-examined by A.L. Norrbom, pers comm., but its aculeus was insufficiently exposed). Aculeus “torsion” is otherwise only known in subgenera Didacus ( Mulgens and Insolitus groups) and Lophodacus ( Brevis group), and appears to have evolved separately in each case, and there is no reason to revise the subgeneric position of this species. An unusual feature of the Tanzanian specimen is that it apparently has a pair of dorsocentral setae, the left better developed than the right, and each placed slightly forward of the level of the posterior supra-alar seta (see Introduction).