Oscinella (Oscinella) acuticornis Becker, 1912

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, An overview of the Chloropidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 4791 (1), pp. 1-71 : 30

Oscinella (Oscinella) acuticornis Becker, 1912

( Fig 29 )

Oscinella (Paroscinella) acuticornis Becker, 1912: 249 .

Specimens examined. 1♀, Jazan, Abu Aresh, Al-Mahdag Village , 4.iii.2013, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 1♀, Asir, Maraba, Al-Hudaithy Fruit Farm , 1.ii.2012, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 5♂, 20♀, Asir, Maraba, Al-Hudaithy Fruit Farm , 1–31.v.2004, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS; NMWC) ; 1♀, Asir, Muhayil, Wadi Hali , 9.i. 2003, sweeping, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) .

Distribution. This species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Dawah & Abdullah (2006); El-Hawagry et al. (2013). It was described from Ethiopia by both Becker and Lamb in the same year and under the same name, so that Oscinella acuticornis Lamb is not only a synonym, but a homonym. It was further recorded from Gambia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Seychelles and Yemen ( Sabrosky 1980; Deeming 2003).

Remarks. Deeming (2003) recorded that this species attacking wheat, barley and tef in Ethiopia and barley in Kenya. It is also commonly swept from rice in the Gambia. Oscinella spp. have the larval biology of shoot flies. This means that they develop in the shoots and seedlings of grasses and cereal crops. Some species are of considerable economic importance and cause primary damage. Especially notorious among these is Oscinella frit (Linnaeus) , which destroys wheat and barley in the Holarctic Region. O. frit sometimes produces an autumn generation, the larvae of which attack seeds that are at the “milky dough” stage of development in the same way as do larvae of Dicraeus spp. Other species are sometimes found developing in the frass of larger shoot flies of the genus Atherigona (Muscidae) and lepidopterous stem borers ( Deeming & Al-Dhafer 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 29. Oscinella (Oscinella) acuticornis Becker, 1912. Female.