Liriomyza blechi Spencer, 1973

Lonsdale, Owen, 2021, Manual of North American Agromyzidae (Diptera, Schizophora), with revision of the fauna of the " Delmarva " states, ZooKeys 1051, pp. 1-481 : 1

Liriomyza blechi Spencer

Figs 582-587

Liriomyza blechi Spencer in Spencer and Stegmaier,1973: 98. Spencer and Steyskal 1986b: 285; Lonsdale 2017: 35; Eiseman and Lonsdale 2018: 47; Monteiro et al. 2019: 170; Eiseman et al. 2021: 24.

Description.

Wing length 2.0-2.1 mm (♂), 1.9-2.3 mm (♀). Length of ultimate section of vein M4 divided by penultimate section: 1.3-1.4. Eye height divided by gena height: 5.3-7.0. Eye with small, scattered hairs.

Chaetotaxy: Two ori (anterior seta small); two ors. Acrostichal setulae in four rows; posteromedial setulae inclinate. Third dorsocentral from back reduced to absent. Mid tibia with two small posteromedial setae.

Colouration: Head yellow with ocellar tubercle, back of head above foramen and posterior margin of frons lateral to vertical setae brown; clypeus sometimes brown. Scutum very shiny and yellow with dark medial stripe on anterior 2/3, one pair of lateral presutural spots and one pair of postsutural bifid stripes; markings usually fused medially, and (south of Canada) sometimes forming large spot nearly reaching lateral and posterior margins. Scutellum yellow, sometimes with lateral corner brown. Metanotum yellow with mediotergite dark brown and venter of katatergite and anatergite brown. Pleuron and legs yellow with faint triangular spot on katepisternum; southern specimens sometimes with spot more distinct and meron with small spot. Calypter margin and hairs dark. Abdomen mostly yellow, sometimes with faint dorsal stripe narrowing to tergite 5 or 6.

Genitalia: (Figs 582-587 ) Epandrium large with sides broadly rounded; posterodistal corner with wide, elongate bar on inner surface. Surstylus subtriangular with apex elongate and dark. Hypophallus broad, faintly sclerotised, lateral margin thicker and folded, with small, weak medial plate with small apical hairs; basomedial region elaborated into one pair of thick folds that meet medially. Basiphallus with dorsal plate fused to phallophorus. Mesophallus indistinct, possibly evident as basal stem of distiphallus and sclerotised ventromedial folds, the latter of which may also be modified paraphalli. Distiphallus perpendicular to basiphallus; length ~ 2 × width; consisting of two broad, fused lobes that slightly widen apically; inner surface minutely spinulose on distal 1/2. Ejaculatory apodeme very large, broadly rounded and pale with sperm pump heavily sclerotised with flat lateral extensions.

Hosts.

Acanthaceae - Blechum , Dicliptera , Ruellia . Boraginaceae - Heliotropium . Loganiaceae - Spigelia . Gentianaceae - Chelonanthus . Phrymaceae - Mimulus . Plantaginaceae - Plantago . Poaceae - Digitaria [?], Panicum , Paspalum . Verbenaceae - Phyla . See host species list and comments in Eiseman et al. (2021).

Distribution.

Canada: AB, NL, ON, QC. USA: DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, MA, MD, MI, MS, NC, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TX, VA, WV; leaf mine only in KS, WI ( Eiseman et al. 2021). Bermuda. Bolivia. Brazil. Dominica. Dominican Republic. Guadeloupe. Martinique.

Type material.

Holotype: USA. FL: Dade Co., Miami, 11.vii.1963, ex. leaf mine on Blechum pyramidatum (HT ♂, USNM).

Additional material examined.

See Lonsdale (2017).

Figures

Figures 582 - 587. Liriomyza blechi Spencer, male genitalia 582 ejaculatory apodeme 583 detail of sperm pump, rotated 90 ° 584 external genitalia, ventral 585 hypandrium and postgonite, ventral 586 phallus, left lateral 587 phallus, ventral. Originally published in part in Lonsdale (2017).