Cosmosciara perniciosa ( EDWARDS, 1922 )

Menzel, Frank, Vilkamaa, Pekka & Smith, Jane E., 2013, Overview of the Black Fungus Gnats from the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, including a redescription of Hyperlasion viridiventris (FREY) (Diptera: Sciaroidea: Sciaridae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 63 (2), pp. 283-296 : 288

Cosmosciara perniciosa ( EDWARDS, 1922)

( Figs 6, 7 )

Synonyms:

= Plastosciara (Cosmosciara) brevicalcarata HARDY, 1956 ; = Epidapus (Epidapus) semifactus MOHRIG & RÖSCH- MANN, 1999.

Selected literature:

– EDWARDS (1922): 160 [as Plastosciara ]; – FREY (1954): 2, 3 and 11 [as Cosmosciara ]; – HARDY (1956): 73, fig. 2a–e [as Plastosciara brevicalcarata ]; – HARDY (1960): 215 [as Plastosciara (Cosmosciara) ]; – HOLDGATE (1965): 396 [as Cosmosciara ]; – STEFFAN (1973a): 360 [as Plastosciara (Termitosciara) ]; – STEFFAN (1973b): 1265, figs 1, 2; – STEFFAN (1974): 48 [all as Plastosciara ]; – FREEMAN (1983): 25, figs 49, 60 [as Plastosciara (Termitosciara) ]; – RULIK et al. (1999): 31, fig. 7a–e [as Epidapus semifactus ]; – MENZEL & MOHRIG (2000): 288; – MENZEL et al. (2006): 87 [all as Cratyna (Peyerimhoffia) ]; – MENZEL & HELLER (2007): 217; – MENZEL & SMITH (2009): 32, figs 1.21–1.25 [all as Cosmosciara ].

Material from the archipelago:

Only known from the literature ( FREY 1954).

Distribution:

Cosmopolitan. Recorded by FREY (1954) from Inaccessible, Nightingale and Tristan da Cunha (only females). Also known from Ecuador (Galapagos Islands), Costa Rica, United States (Hawaiian Islands), French Polynesia (Marquesas Islands: Eiao, Tahuata), Philippines (Palawan), China, Seychelles Islands (Silhouette), United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Canary Islands [ Spain], and Europe ( Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, the Netherlands, Russia [European territory]).

Description: See MENZEL & SMITH (2009): 32, figs 1.21– 1.25.

Discussion:

Cosmosciara perniciosa has only occasionally been recorded in Europe from natural habitats like moor, dry grassland and deciduous woodland, but was mostly found near human settlements, in gardens and glasshouses, even as a pest on young plants (e.g. cucumbers). As the genus Cosmosciara is more tropical than Palaearctic, it can be assumed that this species was introduced into Europe by man. In that way it has most probably reached many distant islands, also the Tristan da Cunha archipelago.

Figures

Figs 1–7: Bradysia forficulata (BEZZI), male (Figs 1–3): – Fig. 1: Hypopygium in ventral view; – Fig. 2: Right gonostyle in ventral view; – Fig. 3: 4th flagellomere in lateral view. Bradysia tilicola (LOEW), male (Figs 4, 5); – Fig. 4: Hypopygium in ventral view; – Fig. 5: Apical part of left gonostyle in ventral view. Cosmosciara perniciosa (EDWARDS), male (Figs 6, 7); – Fig. 6: Hypopygium in ventral view; – Fig. 7: Apical part of right gonostyle in ventral view.