Dacus (Neodacus) perpusillus Drew, 1971

Leblanc, Luc, 2022, The dacine fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini) of Oceania, Insecta Mundi 2022 (948), pp. 1-167 : 150

Dacus (Neodacus) perpusillus Drew, 1971 , restored combination

Figure 91

Distribution. New Caledonia (mainland, Maré, Lifou).

Male lure. Cue-lure.

Host plants. No known host.

Biology. Monthly trapping data illustrated on Figure 135 .

Notes. This species was originally described as Dacus (Asiadacus) perpusillus Drew, 1971 and later reassigned as Bactrocera (Sinodacus) perpusilla (Drew) by Drew (1989). More recently, it was transferred to genus Zeugodacus , as Z. (Sinodacus) perpusillus (Drew) (DeMeyer et al. 2015; Doorenweerd et al. 2018) or treated as Bactrocera (Parasinodacus) perpusilla (Drew) by Hancock and Drew (2017b). A close morphological examination of fresh specimens collected by the author in New Caledonia in 2019 clearly shows that this species belongs to genus Dacus and subgenus Neodacus , as defined by Drew and Romig (2013, 2022), further confirmed by genetic data ( Doorenweerd et al. 2020). I am therefore reassigning this species as Dacus (Neodacus) perpusillus Drew.

Figures

Figure 91. Dacus (Neodacus) perpusillus Drew, male. A) Head. B–C) Head and scutum. D–E) Abdomen. F) Wing. G) Lateral view.

Figure 135. Mean (±SE) daily captures of Dacus perpusillus (Drew) in cue-lure traps maintained in New Caledonia (Mainland, Lifou) between January 1996 and December 1998, based on 17 trapping sites (n = 612, mean FTD = 0.05).