Chonocephalus fletcheri Schmitz

Disney, R. Henry L., 2002, Revisionary notes on Chonocephalus Wandolleck (Diptera: Phoridae) with keys to species of the Holarctic Region, Zootaxa 60, pp. 1-36 : 20-21

Chonocephalus fletcheri Schmitz

(Figs 20­21, 37)

Chonocephalus fletcheri Schmitz, 1912: 728 .

Chonocephalus laetus Borgmeier, 1963: 251 . Syn. nov.

Three cotype females are on slides in the MKB. Two are mounted in Euparal (one of which I have designated the LECTOTYPE in order to stablise its nomenclature) and one in gelatin. The latter mount was badly invaded by channels of air, so I have remounted it in Berlese Fluid.

Despite the smaller than usual eyes and entirely brown abdominal tergites of the female, Borgmeier (1963) failed to compare his Nearctic C. laetus with those of C. fletcheri , which was then only known from the type series from Bangladesh. I have mounted on a slide the holotype female and allotype male, caught in copula, of C. laetus . They prove to be C. fletcheri . I therefore formally synonymise C. laetus with C. fletcheri . The subsequent procurement of two reared series, from Canada and India (see below) serve to confirm that C. laetus is a synonym of C. fletcheri .

FIGURES 20­21. Chonocephalus fletcheri male, hypopygium: (20) left side of epandrium and bridge from below; (21) hypandrium, with gonopods. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Material

Lectotype female, Bangladesh (Eastern Bengal): Chaumashani, 6 December 1911, inside a rice stem, T. B. Fletcher (MKB ­ 27­135). 40 males, 10 females (3 of each being remounted on slides), Canada, Ontario, Port Credit, near Toronto, ex rotting bulb, November 1966, H. Teskey ( DEBU ­ 14­55). Holotype female and allotype male of C. laetus , caught in copula, 1 male paratype, 4 larvae, U.S.A., Florida, Sebring, ex Easter Lily bulla, 19 July 1955, W. W. Wirth ( USNM ­ cat no. 10702C ­ 26­63); 2 male and 2 female paratypes of C. laetus , 1 male pupa, 1 female pupa, Keywest, St Plant Bd, ex diseased hearts of Cocos nucifera, 1958 ( USNM ­ 0­4962 ­ 26­62). Also recorded from the Afrotropical and Neotropical Regions.

Natural history

A series collected at turmeric ( Curcuma longa L., Zingiberaceae ) infested with larval Dichocrocis punctiferalis (Guenée) ( Lepidoptera , Pyralidae ) were possibly attracted to diseased or moribund caterpillars. Likewise a series reared from a cocoon mass of Apanteles flavipes ( Cameron) (Braconidae) were probably feeding on moribund pupae. Some females caught on the edible paddy straw mushrooms Volvariella (Plutaceae) were probably ovipositing on over ripe sporophores ( Disney, 1994). Borgmeier (1963) reported this species reared from an Easter Lily bulla and from the diseased hearts of Cocos nucifera L The series from Canada was reared from a rotting bulb.