Mallota dusmeti Andréu, 1926

Ricarte, Antonio, Marcos-García, M Angeles, Pérez-Bañón, Celeste & Rotheray, Graham E., 2007, The early stages and breeding sites of four rare saproxylic hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) from Spain, Journal of Natural History 41 (25 - 28), pp. 1717-1730 : 1721-1722

Mallota dusmeti Andréu

Puparium

Overall appearance. Long-tailed larva with mouthparts of the saprophagous type ( Rotheray and Gilbert 1999); puparium with a boat-shaped profile ( Figure 7 ) ( Rotheray 1993); truncate anteriorly, tapering posteriorly, slightly dorso-ventrally flattened, pale yellow in colour, vestiture light and ventral surface bare; lateral margin with a distinct ridge becoming more pronounced posteriorly and incorporating dark, fleshy projections incorporating segmental sensilla 4–6 ( Figure 10 ).

Dimensions. Length 13.67 mm; width 6.17 mm.

Head skeleton ( Figure 8 ). Basal sclerite at junction of dorsal and ventral cornea black and heavily but unevenly sclerotized; dorsal cornu straight dorsally and tapered posteriorly; ventral cornu inflated posteriorly and 2.5 times as long as dorsal cornu; parastomal bars bordering the epipharyngeal plate clearly visible at the antero-dorsal part of the head skeleton, otherwise sclerotization lacking between the dorsal bridge and the tentorial bar; dorsal bridge and ventral pharyngeal ridges present; ventral bridge linking the tentorial bars broader than tentorial bar; mandibular sclerite T-shaped.

Prothorax. Anterior fold evenly coated in red-brown spicules, translucent at apex. Anterior spiracles ( Figure 11 ). Length 50.56 mm; width 50.2 mm, yellow brown, less than three times as long as base is wide with pointed and slightly recurved tip; at least 14 spiracular openings present at the apex of the spiracular plate; openings arranged in a curved row.

Mesothorax. Prolegs present with three or more rows of crochets; five crochets in the primary rows.

Abdomen. Vestiture sparse and vestiture absent on ventral surface; prolegs with three rows of crochets present on the first six segments; five crochets in the primary row decreasing to three on segment 6; lateral margin with two aligned projections per segment; segments 1–6 with projections bearing sensilla 4+5 and 6 and segment 7 projections incorporating sensilla 7+8 and 9; anal segment elongate, more than body length, bearing three pairs of approximately equidistant lappets.

Pupal spiracles ( Figures 12, 13 ). Separated by 0.67 times their length; 1.96 mm long, subcylindrical, yellowish brown, postero-laterally curved with small, circular, irregularly spaced openings extending almost to the base; sculpture between openings conspicuously punctured.

Posterior respiratory process. Elongate, shiny brown with each spiracular plate bearing three pairs of curved spiracular openings; transverse band not distinct.

Material examined

Two puparia from larvae collected 19 March 2004 and 28 May 2004, from tree holes containing standing water in live Fraxinus angustifolia and F. angustifolia or Quercus faginea trees, respectively, Spain, Ciudad Real, Cabañeros National Park, Canalejas valley, M. A. Marcos-García, G. Rotheray, and G. Hancock, and M. A. Marcos-García and C. Pérez- Bañón, respectively; puparia formed 22 March 2004 and 6 April 2004, male and female emerged 21 June 2004 and 3 July 2004, respectively.

Figures

Figure 7. Typical Mallota-shaped puparium of M. dusmeti, lacking the detachable thoracic plate and the drawomitted long tail in lateral view, with head to the left. Scale bar: 4 mm.

Figures 10–13. Mallota dusmeti SEMs. (10) Posterior end of the puparium showing the diagnostic conspicuous projections on the lateral ridges (ventral view). (11) Anterior spiracle (both were damaged in the unique available specimen). (12) Pupal spiracle in dorso-lateral view. (13) Detail of pupal spiracle surface. Scale and other photo data are shown at the bottom of each figure.

Figures 8, 9. Head skeletons in lateral view. (8) Mallota dusmeti. (9) Myolepta difformis. Scale bar: 1.2 mm.