Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) scutellaris (Bezzi)

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 : 10-11

Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) scutellaris (Bezzi)

Bactrocera scutellaris Bezzi, 1913: 98 . Lectotype male in ZSI.

Zeugodacus malaisei Hering, 1938: 4 ; Norrbom et al., 1998: 103 (syn.).

Dacus pusaensis Kapoor & Katiyar, 1970: 252 ; Norrbom et al., 1998: 103 (syn.).

Dacus (Zeugodacus) scutellaris – Hardy, 1973: 68; Hardy, 1977: 59; Wang, 1996: 70.

Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) scutellaris – Liang et al., 1993: 138; Norrbom et al., 1998: 103.

Material examined. – BHUTAN: 2 males (10 May.2002) , 1 male (24 May.2002), Rimchu , coll. C. Dorji ; 5 males (17 May.2000), 1 male (24 May.2000), 2 males (31 May.2000), 4 males (26 Jul.2000), 3 males (10 Aug.2000), 3 males (16 Aug.2000), 13 males (6 Sep.2000), 7 males (12 Sep.2000), 21 males (20 Sep.2000), 7 males (27 Sep.2000), 12 males (5 Oct.2000), Rimchu trap No. 1, coll. C. Dorji ; 2 males (7 Jun.2000), 7 males (28 Jun.2000), 2 males (5 Jul.2000), 5 males (19 Jul.2000), 12 males (23 Jul.2000), 1 male (2 Aug.2000), 6 males (30 Aug.2000), Rimchu trap No. 1, coll. C. Dorji et al .; 2 males, Rimchu trap No. 1, 4 May.2000, coll. B.S. Fletcher ; 3 males, Rimchu trap No. 1, 14 Jun.2000, coll. Nado & Tshomo ; 1 male, Rimchu trap No. 1, 21 Jun.2000, coll. Nado et al .; 3 males, Rimchu trap No. 1, 10 May.2000 ; 3 males (28 Jun.2000), 2 males (12 Jul.2000), 3 males (16 Jul.2000), 5 males (26 Jul.2000), 2 males (5 Oct.2000), 1 male (16 Nov.2000), Rimchu trap No. 2, coll. C. Dorji ; 3 males (4 May.2000), 2 males (10 May.2000), Rimchu trap No. 2, coll. B.S. Fletcher ; 3 males (4 May.2000), 1 male (10 May.2000), Rimchu trap No. 3, coll. B.S. Fletcher ; 2 males, Tsirang, 11 Jun.2000, Suntalay ; 1 male, Tsirang, 28 Jun.2000, coll. S. Wangdi ; 1 male, Tsirang, 12 Jul.2000, coll. C. Dorji ; 1 male (19 Jun.2000), 2 males (10 Jul.2000), Tsirang, coll. T.D. & S.D .; 4 males (3 Jul.2000), 4 males (17 Jul.2000), 7 males (31 Jul.2000), 4 males (21 Aug.2000), Tsirang; 3 males (31 May.2000) , 1 male (13 Sep.2000) , Lumitshawa , coll. C. Dorji ; 1 male, Lumitshawa , 17 May.2000, coll. C. Dorji et al .; 1 male, Lumitshawa , 3 May.2000, coll. B.S. Fletcher ; 2 males, Lumitshawa , 21 Jun.2000, coll. Nado et al .; 3 males, Namling 7 km, 9 Jun.2001, coll. Brian Fletcher ; 3 males, Namling 11 km, 9 Jun.2001, coll. Brian Fletcher ; 26 males, Namling 14 km, 7 Jun.2001, coll. Brian Fletcher ; 50 males, Namling 16 km, 9 Jun.2001, coll. Brian Fletcher ; 2 males, Lingmethang 11 km, 9 Jun.2001, coll. Brian Fletcher. All specimens attracted to cue lure. Specimens in NPPC and QDPI .

Diagnosis. – A small to medium sized species; face fulvous with a pair of transverse oval black spots pointed towards centre; postpronotal lobes and notopleura yellow; scutum shining black; narrow lateral and medial postsutural vittae present; a very small yellow spot anterior to mesonotal suture; mesopleural stripe equal in width to notopleuron dorsally; scutellum yellow with a distinct black apical spot; wing with a narrow dark fuscous costal band which is extremely narrow beyond apex of R 2+3 and widening into a distinct spot around apex of R 4+5, broad dark fuscous cubital streak present; cells bc and c colourless; microtrichia in outer corner of cell c only; abdominal terga III-V mostly dark fuscous to black.

Attractant. – Cue lure.

Distribution. – Widespread across south Asia to southeast Asia. New record for Bhutan.

Hosts. – Flowers of species in the Family Cucurbitaceae (see Allwood et al., 1999).

Remarks. – Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) scutellaris Bezzi appears to be the most widespread of all scutellaris complex species. It is readily distinguished by the shining black scutum, very narrow lateral and medial postsutural vittae, scutellum yellow with a dark spot at apex, costal band extremely narrow beyond apex of R 2+3 and with a small spot around apex of R 4+5, abdominal terga III-V mostly dark fuscous to black. As for B. diversa (Coquillett) , B. scutellaris attacks flowers of Cucurbitaceae species so may have pest status but no quarantine significance for export trade.