Bactrocera (Bactrocera) rubigina Wang & Zhao

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 : 5

Bactrocera (Bactrocera) rubigina Wang & Zhao

Dacus rubiginus Wang & Zhao, 1989: 211 . Holotype male in IZAS. Bactrocera (Bactrocera) rubigina – Liang et al., 1993: 138; Norrbom et al., 1998: 95.

Material examined. – BHUTAN: 2 males (13 May.2000) , 2 males (20 May.2000), 1 male (27 May.2000), Phuentsholing, coll. S. Thapa, 1 male, Lumitshawa , 5 May.2000, coll. C. Dorji ; 1 male (17 May.2000), 1 male (24 May.2000), Rimchu, coll. C. Dorji; 1 male, Rimchu 1, 5 Jul.2000, coll. C. Dorji et al.; 4 males (17 May.2000), 1 male (31 May.2000), Rimchu 1, coll. C. Dorji; 2 males, Rimchu 1, 21 Jun.2000, coll. Nado et al.; 2 males, Rimchu 1, 10 May.2000, coll. B.S. Fletcher ; 2 males, Rimchu 2, 7 Jun.2000, coll. Dorji & Nado ; 1 male, Rimchu 2, 17 May.2000, coll. C. Dorji ; 2 males, Rimchu 2, 10 May.2000, coll. B.S. Fletcher ; 1 male, Rimchu 3, 10 May.2000, coll. B.S. Fletcher ; 2 males, Tsirang, 31 Jul.2000 ; 1 male, Tsirang, 10 Jul.2000, coll. T.D. & S.D ; 1 male (15 May.2000), 1 male (5 Jun.2000), Suntalay, coll. S. Wangdi et al.; 1 male, Namling 14 km, 1800 m, subtropical forest, 7 Jun.2000, coll. Brian Fletcher ; 1 male, Lingmethang , 11 km, 1100 m, subtropical forest, 9 Jun.2001, coll. Brian Fletcher ; 13 males (15 Nov.2004), 11 males (5 Dec.2004), 1 male (29 Dec.2004), Samdrup Jongkhar District, coll. Wangdi ; 1 male (9 Nov.2004), 1 male (1 Feb.2005), Gelephu, Purana Bastey, coll. Maha Prasad & Karma Namgyel. All specimens attracted to cue lure. Specimens in NPPC and QDPI .

Diagnosis. – Face fulvous with a pair of medium sized oval black spots; scutum with base colour red-brown and dark red-brown to fuscous lanceolate dark patterns; postpronotal lobes and notopleura yellow, mesopleural stripe reaching midway between anterior margin of notopleuron and anterior npl. seta dorsally, medium width lateral postsutural vittae narrowing posteriorly to end before ia. seta, medial postsutural vitta absent; setae: sc. 2; prsc. 2; ia. 1; p.sa. 1; a.sa. 1; mpl. 1; npl. 2; scp. 4; scutellum yellow except for narrow red-brown basal band; legs with femora entirely fulvous, fore tibiae fuscous to dark fuscous, mid tibiae fulvous tending fuscous basally, hind tibiae dark fuscous, tarsal segments entirely fulvous tending darker on apical four segments; wings with cells bc and c colourless, microtrichia in outer corner of cell c only, narrow fuscous costal band just overlapping R 2+3 where it is very pale and widening slightly beyond apex of R 2+3 to end beyond extremity of R 4+5, a narrow fuscous cubital streak, supernumerary lobe weak; abdominal terga III-V red-brown with a ‘T’ pattern consisting of a narrow transverse black band across anterior margin of tergum III and widening to cover lateral margins where it tends to be dark fuscous, a narrow medial longitudinal black band over all three terga but ending before posterior margin of tergum V, anterolateral corners of terga IV and V dark fuscous, a pair of dark red-brown to fuscous shining spots on tergum V.

Attractant. – Cue lure.

Distribution. – China (Hainan). New record for Bhutan.

Hosts. – Litsea verticillata (Family Lauraceae ) (see Liang et al., 1993).

Remarks. – This species is similar to Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White in general body colours. See remarks on B. invadens for similarities and differences. It is important to note that males of B. rubigina Wang & Zhao respond to cue lure while males of B. invadens respond to methyl eugenol. Bactrocera rubigina is not a pest species.