Chonocephalus fletcheri Schmitz, 1912

Disney, R. H. L., 2008, Review of Neotropical Chonocephalus Wandolleck (Diptera: Phoridae), Zootaxa 1772 (1), pp. 1-54 : 18

Chonocephalus fletcheri Schmitz

( Figs 49–53 )

Chonocephalus fletcheri Schmitz, 1912: 728 . Lectotype female, Bangladesh ( Eastern Bengal ): Chaumashani, 6 December 1911, inside a rice stem, T. B. Fletcher (MKB) [Examined].

Chonocephalus laetus Borgmeier, 1963: 251 (male and female). Disney, 2002: 20.

This species has been transported across the world by man, and now occurs in the Afrotropical, Nearctic, Neotropical and Oriental regions. In the Nearctic Region it extends from Florida to Canada and in the Afrotropical Region it is abundant in Arabia ( Disney, 2006).

Material. 1 male, Cuba, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , 8–19 February 1965, light trap ( USNM) . 3 males, Jamaica, Montego Bay , March 1963, wind trap, J. B. Davies ( USNM) ; 4 females, ex cocoon mass of Apanteles flavipes (Cameron) , leg. B. Pitkin ( CUMZ) . 3 males, 1 male, St Kitts, Basseterre , coastal, flight interception trap, 8–31 July 1985, L. D. Coote ( LACM, 26-68) . 1 female, Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, July 1980, in semidried coffee imported from Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) ( USNM, misidentified as C. mexicanus ) . 1 male, Trinidad, St Augustine , July 1994, E. G. Hancock ( CUMZ, 4-97) .

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. Borgmeier (1963) reported this species reared from an Easter Lily ‘bulla’ (= bulb) and from the diseased hearts of Cocos nucifera L A series from Canada was reared from a rotting bulb.

Figures

FIGURES 49–51. Chonocephalus fletcheri male, hypopygium from below: (49) left side of epandrium and bridge; (50) right side of epandrium; (51) hypandrium, with gonopods. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 52–53. Chonocephalus fletcheri female, details of abdomen: (52) sternite 8, furca and spermatheca; (53) tergite 8. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.