Liriomyza cunicularia, Lonsdale, 2011

Lonsdale, Owen, 2011, The Liriomyza (Agromyzidae: Schizophora: Diptera) of California 2850, Zootaxa 2850 (1), pp. 1-123 : 42-43

Liriomyza cunicularia spec. nov.

Figs 148–151

Wing length 1.5mm (♂), 1.6–1.7mm (♀). Length of ultimate section of vein CuA 1 divided by penultimate section: 2.6–3.2. Eye height divided by gena height: 3.3–3.4. Scutum dusted with light pruinosity.

Chaetotaxy: Two ori, two ors. Acrostichal setulae in four rows.

Colouration: Calypter margin and hairs brownish-grey. Head light yellow with first flagellomere yellow, clypeus yellow to light brown, pale spot present on posterior margin of frons lateral to outer vertical bristle, and ocellar tubercle and back of head brown. Scutum dark with complete lateral yellow stripe broadly overlapping yellow stripe on scutellum; katatergite yellow; anatergite dark below scutellum and yellow lateral to scutellum with venter brownish. Anepisternum with small brown anteroventral spot; anepimeron with small anteromedial stripe; meron with posteroventral spot; katepisternum with large triangular spot on ventral half. Legs light yellow with coxae thinly brown basally, femora faintly brown dorsobasally (and sometimes brownish dorsoapically), and tibiae and tarsi light brown to brown with tarsi becoming paler to base. Abdomen brown dorsally (stripe narrowing posteriorly) with posterior margin of tergites yellow; dorsal stripe interrupted bedially by thin yellow line on tergites 2– 4 (5 in females); dorsal surface of epandrium and perianal region yellow.

Genitalia: Figs 148–151 . Surstylus with one subapical spine. Paraphallus thin and basally fused to basiphallus. Hypophallus with broad membranous base and long apical hairs. Mesophallus short, fused to distiphallus and with wide ventral suture. Distiphallus damaged with most of paired distal tubules missing; large, stout and bifid with basal section broad and heavily-sclerotized. Ejaculatory apodeme with pileus ejaculatorius broad and with ends truncated and dark; stem short, blending into broad blade with dark margin.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin for “miner”, referring to the life history of this species.

Host. Solanaceae — Capsicum sp. [?] (“Pepper”).

Range. USA. California [Orange].

Type material. Holotype, USA. California: Orange Co., Talbert, “9/6/28”, A.C.[?] Davis , mining in pepper leaves, no. 6 (1♂, USNM) . Paratypes, USA. California: Orange Co., same collection as holotype (3♀, USNM; 1♀, CSCA) .

Comments. Liriomyza cunicularia is a small pale species similar in appearance to L. trifolii , having a lightly dusted scutum and no pigment around the base of the vertical bristles. Although the terminalia of the only known male is partially destroyed, the phallus is clearly unique—the mesophallus is small, dark and thin with a wide ventral suture, and the distiphallus is very large, dark and strongly bifid with no surrounding basal bowl. The basal bowl of the distiphallus is also missing in L. bella and L. parabella , but the phallus is much less robust and the calypter is entirely pale. Liriomyza flavonigra (Coquillett) (from description in Spencer & Steyskal (1986)) from Utah and New Mexico also lacks a basal collar on the distiphallus, but the gena of this species is approximately half the height of the eye, the scutum is narrowly yellow in front of the scutellum, the calypter is entirely white, the wing length varies from 2.3–2.8 or 3.0mm and there are three ori. Of these three species, host data is known only for L. cunicularia , which was collected “mining in pepper leaves”. Liriomyza trifolii is most commonly encountered mining in pepper.

Figures

FIGURES 144–151. Figs 144–147: Liriomyza merga spec. nov., male holotype genitalia; 144: external components, ventral; 145: phallus, ventral; 146: phallus, left lateral; 147: ejaculatory apodeme. Figs 148–151: L. cunicularia spec. nov., male genitalia; 148: external components, ventral; 149: phallus, ventral; 150: phallus, left lateral; 151: ejaculatory apodeme.