Baldratia karamae Elsayed and Skuhravá, 2015

Elsayed, Ayman Khamis, Skuhravá, Marcela, Karam, Hedaya Hamza, Elminshawy, Abdelaziz & Al-Eryan, Mohamed Awad, 2015, New records and new species of gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) developing on Chenopodiaceae in Egypt, Zootaxa 3904 (1), pp. 105-115 : 108-110

Baldratia karamae Elsayed and Skuhravá , new species

Adult description. Color (freshly emerged individuals): head black, antennae brown, thorax dark brown, wings smoky grey, legs light brown, upper and lower parts of abdomen dark brown, lateral parts red.

Body length. 1.8 mm (n=5) in female when the ovipositor not extended and 1.6 mm (n=5) in male.

Head ( Fig. 11 ): Compound eyes with rounded facets, gap between eyes on vertex about 0-1 times as wide as facet. Palpi one-segmented; labella globular, setose, widely separated. Antenna 2+10–segmented (n=23), scape conical, pedicel rounded, flagellomeres 1–9 subequal, slightly longer than wide, each with two connected rings of circumfila in both sexes; male terminal flagellomere with circumfila arranged in a network pattern ( Fig. 12 ); female terminal flagellomere ( Fig. 13 ) consisting of the fusion of the three distal flagellomeres.

Thorax: Wing ( Fig. 14 ) length about 1.3 mm (n=5) in male and 1.4 mm (n=5) in female. Vein R5 joining C approximately at mid-length; C broken behind the junction point with R5; Sc and M present; CuA simple. Tarsal claws ( Fig. 15 ) toothed and curved. Empodia shorter than claws. Hind legs of males much longer and thicker than fore- and midlegs of the female.

Abdomen, Male: Tergites 1–7 rectangular with posterior row of setae; tergites 3–7 with anterior pair of trichoid sensilla. Tergite 8 about 0.3 times as wide as tergite 7. Sternites rectangular; sternites 1 and 3–5 with posterior row of setae; sternites 2, 6 and 7 with two posterior rows of setae. Genitalia ( Fig. 16 ): Gonostylus about 0.6 times as long as gonocoxite, arched, setulose and setose, apically with blunt tooth. Gonocoxite wide, massive with scattered long setae. Mediobasal lobes small. Cerci fused, notched, setose and setulose, with rounded tips. Hypoproct entire, rounded apically. Aedeagus slender, and rounded at apex, surrounded with wide setulose parameres. Female ( Fig. 17 ): Tergites 2–7 rectangular, with anterior pair of trichoid sensilla and posterior row of setae; tergite 8 about half tergite 7. Sternites rectangular; sternites 3–6 with posterior row of setae; sternites 6 and 7 with 1–2 posterior rows. Ovipositor ( Fig. 18 ): segment 9 anteriorly with dorsal and ventral dark sclerotized patches, posteriorly with some hyaline setae; the two sclerotized rods widened basally. Lateral plate bears ~21 straight, hyaline, split setae. Aculeus concave ventrally, with three rows of strong, squamiform, apically hooked setae on the dorsal site. Sclerotized thin spine extends dorsally along the lateral plate. Apical lamella ovoid, densely covered with short setae.

Holotype. Female, Egypt, El-Amria district (30°59'54.00"N, 29°49'7.00"E), 27.I.2013, A. K. Elsayed, reared from pustule galls on leaves of Suaeda pruinosa .

Paratypes. All from Egypt, Alexandria, and reared by A. K. Elsayed from leaf galls on Suaeda pruinosa . El- Amria district: 2 females, 1 male, 29.I.2013; 2 females, 30.I.2013; 1 female, 17.III.2013; Abo-Talat district: 1 male, 7.III.2013; 1 female, 27.IV.2013; 1 female, 30.IV.2013; Sidi Kreer district: 2 females, 1 male, 4.V.2013; 1 female, 1 males, 5.V.2013; 1 female, 1 male, 7.V.2013; 4 females, 8.V.2013; 1 female, 2 males, 15.V.2013.

Distribution. Egypt (Sidi Kreer, Abo-Talat, and El-Amria district).

Etymology. This species is named in honor of Mrs. Hedaya H. Karam, professor of Economic Entomology at Alexandria University, Egypt.

Biology. Larvae of B. karamae develop inside leaves of S. pruinosa (Chenopodiaceae) . Attacked leaves do not show any external signs of infestation except for a dark reddish spot, but can be recognized once adults have emerged, leaving behind emergence holes and the protruding pupal exuviae. Each gall consists of a single chamber in which pupation takes place. The adults were collected from plants from the end of January to the beginning of March, and from the end of April to the middle of October, 2013. Baldratia karamae may have more than two generations per year.

Remarks. According to Fedotova (1991a) the genus Baldratia is divided into five groups on the basis of morphological characters of adults. By reviewing these characters, it was clear that the new species, B. karamae , belongs to the salicorniae Group, which is characterized by the apical lamella positioned at an obtuse angle relative to segment 9, and the lateral plate embraces the entire base of the apical lobe. The salicorniae Group previously contained three species, viz. B. salicorniae , B. suaedifolia , and B. balchanensis ( Fedotova 1991a, 1992). The thin spine of the female ovipositor is longer and thinner in B. suaedifolia , and B. balchanensis than in B. salicorniae . This new species has a long thin spine that does not exceed the base of the aculeus, in contrast to B. balchanensis which has a longer thin spine. Baldratia suaedifolia has a thin spine covered with split setae, while it is bare in B. karamae .

Currently only five gall midge species are known to be associated with the host plant Suaeda ( Gagné & Jaschhof 2014) . Two of them, B. aelleni Möhn, 1969 , and B. suaedae Möhn, 1969 , were described on the basis of larvae alone ( Möhn 1969), and can therefore not be compared to other adults in the genus. Baldratia karamae larvae that develop in leaves of Suaeda pruinosa , differ from the three other species, viz. B. occulta Dorchin, 2001 , associated with S. monoica Forssk ; B. suaedifolia Fedotova, 1991 , associated with Suaeda acuminata (Meyer) ; and B. terteriani Mamaev & Mirumian, 1990 , associated with Suaeda altissima (L.), on the basis published descriptions of these species ( Mamaev & Mirumian 1990, Fedotova 1991a, Dorchin 2001). An unique feature of the B. karamae is the stable number of antennal flagellomeres (2+10) in both sexes, in contrast to other species of Baldratia which have a variable number of flagellomeres between the sexes, viz. B. suaedifolia (2+ 12 in female versus 2+ 10 in male), B. occulta (2+ 13-14 in female versus 2+ 12 in male), and B. terteriani (2+ 14 in female versus 2+ 12 in male). The lateral plate of the ovipositor of B. karamae is broad at its base, narrow in the middle and covered with split setae, but B. occulta has a lateral plate which is narrow at the base and bearing 10-15 straight setae, with split setae only on the basal part. The lateral plate of B. terteriani has a small lateral projection at the base that is not present in B. karamae .

Figures

FIGURES 11 – 18. Baldratia karamae. 11. Head. 12. Male distal flagellomeres. 13. Female distal flagellomeres. 14. Wing. 15. The distal tarsomere. 16. Genitalia (the mediobasal lobes are shown as would be seen if cerci were removed, setulae are not shown). 17. Female terminal abdominal segments. 18. Ovipositor.