Neolasioptera

Gagné, Raymond J., Kay, Fernando Mc & Heard, Tim A., 2011, A new species of Neolasioptera (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) from Parkinsonia aculeata (Leguminosae) in Argentina for possible use in biological control in Australia, with a key to Neotropical species of Neolasioptera, Zootaxa 2866, pp. 61-68 : 66-67

Key to Neotropical species of Neolasioptera

This is the first key to Neolasioptera species known from the Neotropics, of which there are currently 65 species. It will serve to differentiate N. aculeatae from all other known species of Neotropical Neolasioptera . The key groups only broadly most of the other known species but is proffered as a first attempt at sorting out these many species. Without knowing all of them in more detail, it is impractical to key all the species individually at this point. Citations and hosts for each species in the key and for the six other species that immediately follow can be found in Gagné (2004, 2010). The key is based mainly on the larval third (last) instar spatula, which, by all evidence to date, is consistent in size and shape within a species. Fortunately, this structure has been illustrated for most species. The five species for which the spatula is unknown, and a sixth species with the spatula previously undescribed, are separated from N. aculeatae immediately following the key.

1 Spatula absent................................... N. compositarum Möhn , N. malvavisci Möhn and N. serrata Möhn

- Spatula present....................................................................................... 2

2 Spatula reduced anteriorly to a single, diminutive, rounded tooth and posteriorly to a short shaft barely longer than the tooth........................................................................................ N. parvula Möhn

- Spatula robust, with 2–4 prominent anterior teeth and much longer shaft (as in Fig. 14 ).............................. 3

3 Spatula with 2 teeth separated by minute serrations............................................ N. verbesinae Möhn

- Spatula with 2–4 closely adjacent teeth.................................................................... 4

4 Spatula with only 2 teeth............... N. eugeniae Maia , N. heterothalami (Kieffer & Jörgensen) and N. rostrata Gagné

- Spatula with 3–4 teeth................................................................................. 5

5 Spatula with 4 teeth.................................................. N. erigerontis (Felt) and N. fariae (Tavares)

- Spatula with 3 teeth.................................................................................... 6

6 Spatula cruciate, with definite anterolateral extensions (as in Fig. 15 ).................................................. N. aeschynomensis Brèthes , N. amaranthi Möhn , N. borreriae Möhn , N. brickelliae Möhn , N. camarae Möhn , N. capsici Möhn , N. cimarronensis Möhn , N. cissampeli Möhn , N. cruttwellae Gagné , N. cupheae Gagné , N. cusani Wünsch , N. diclipterae Wünsch , N. donamae Wünsch , N. exeupatorii Gagné , N. hibisci (Felt) , N. hyptis Möhn , N. lantanae (Tavares) , N. lapalmae Möhn , N. martelli Nijveldt , N. melantheri Möhn , N. merremiae Möhn , N. mincae Wünsch , N. monticola (Kieffer & Herbst) , N. olivae Wünsch , N. portulacae (Cook) , N. ramicola Maia , N. salviae Möhn , N. samariae Wünsch , N. senecionis Möhn , N. serjaniae Möhn , N. sidae Möhn , N. tournefortiae Möhn , N. tribulae Wünsch , N. tridentifera (Kieffer & Jörgensen) and N. vernoniensis Möhn

- Spatula more or less parallel-sided, not cruciate (as in Fig. 14 ).................................................. 7

7 Middle tooth of spatula at least as long as lateral teeth.......................................................... N. aphelandrae Möhn , N. celtis Möhn , N. cerei (Rübsaamen) , N. cestri Möhn , N. cordiae Möhn , N. dentata Möhn , N. exigua Möhn , N. frugivora Gagné , N. heliocarpi Möhn , N. indigoferae Möhn , N. iresinis Möhn and N. odontonemae Möhn

- Middle tooth of spatula shorter than the lateral teeth......................................................... 8

8 Lateral teeth robust, appreciably more than twice length of middle tooth............................................................................. N. erythroxyli Möhn , N. grandis Möhn , N. ingae Möhn and N. salvadorensis Möhn

- Lateral teeth no more than twice length of middle tooth....................................................... 9

9 Terminal larval segment with 4 papillae............................. N. caleae Möhn and N. pseudocalymmae Möhn

- Terminal larval segment with 8 papillae.................................................................. 10

10 Female fused cerci bulbous........................................... N. clematicola Möhn and N. combreti Möhn

- Female fused cerci cylindrical ( Fig. 8 )...................................................... N. aculeatae Gagné

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 15. N. aculeatae. 9, Male abdomen, sixth segment (inclusive) to end. 10 – 12, Male terminalia: 10, transverse section showing, left to right, cercus, hypoproct, gonostylar lobe, and aedeagus; 11, one gonopod removed (dorsal); 12, gonopod and aedeagus (ventral). 13, Silhouette of gonostylus of N. baezi (dorsal). 14, Larval spatula and associated papillae of N. aculeatae. 15, Larval spatula (distorted) of N. aeschynomensis.

FIGURES 4 – 8. N. aculeatae. 4, Larval head and thorax (ventral). 5, Larval posterior segments (dorsal). 6, Pupal head and thorax (lateral). 7, Same (dorsal). 8, Female postabdomen, fused cerci slightly askew (lateral). Scale bar = 0.1 mm.