Euthycera stichospila ( Czerny, 1909 )

Vala, Jean-Claude & Williams, Christopher D., 2015, Sciomyzidae Fallén, 1820 (Diptera) collected in the Mercantour National Park, France, Zoosystema 37 (4), pp. 611-619 : 616

Euthycera stichospila ( Czerny, 1909)

Limnia stichospila Czerny in Czerny & Strobl, 1909: 257.

Euthycera leclercqi Vala & Reidenbach, 1982: 40 .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 1 ♂, M09- SES1400 -T1-IN ; 1 ♂, M09- BOR1400 -T4-M1 ; 1 ♂, M09- SES1400 -T4-IN ; 1 ♂, M09- SES1400 -T4-M1 ; 2 ♂, M09- SES1400 -T6-M2 ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, M09- SES1400 -T7-M2 ; 1 ♂, M09- SES1400 -T8-M2 ; 2 ♀, M10- CAI1400 -T1-M2 ; 1 ♀, M10- CAI1400 -T3-M2 ; 1 ♀, M10- CAI1400 T4-M1 ; 1 ♀, M10- CAI1400 -T5-M2 .

DISTRIBUTION. — Western Mediterranean: Spain, France, Italy and Algeria.

COMMENTS

The habitats are mainly open dry areas, Quercus forest edges, and around dry grassland. Vala & Caillet (1985) described the egg, all larval instars and the puparium, under the synonym Euthycera leclercqi Vala & Reidenbach, 1982 . The first-instar larvae are primarily parasitoids of small snails and slugs. Their posterior spiracles are always clearly visible on the surface of the host. The second- and third-instar larvae are predators and continue to live saprophagously after the host is killed. In laboratory rearing, all larvae attacked and ate completely Lauria cylindracea , Trochulus hispidus , Oxychilus cellarius (O. F. Müller, 1774) and young individuals of the slug D. reticulatum . The puparium, the overwintering stage, is formed outside the shell of the snail host. The species is univoltine. Flight period is early April to mid-November.