Notommima parallela Freidberg and Copeland, 2006

Freidberg, A. & Copeland, R. S., 2006, Notommima parallela, a new genus and species of fruit fly from Kenya allied to Notomma Bezzi (Diptera: Tephritidae), Journal of Natural History 40 (35 - 37), pp. 2111-2121 : 2114-2120

Notommima parallela Freidberg and Copeland , n. sp.

( Figures 1–13 )

Diagnosis

This species differs from all the species of similar Afrotropical genera by the characters listed in Table I. It is particularly similar to some species of Notomma with two parallel bands along the wing. However, these species have a band over crossvein DM-Cu that N. parallela does not have.

Adult description

Head ( Figure 1 ). Structure: short and high, length: height: width ratio 5.8:9.4:10.0; frons curved, not protuberant; frons length to frons width ratio: at vertex: 1.4–1.5; at level of lunule: 1.6; frons width to head width ratio about 0.3; face slightly (0.8–0.9) lower than frons and slightly higher than antennal length, with distinct triangular carina, carina about twice as high as wide at ventral facial margin, extending dorsally almost to antennal bases, these touching each other; face laterally with deep fovea; ventral facial margin slightly but distinctly protuberant; gena-antenna ratio 1.1–1.2; occiput generally rather strongly convex, although dorsally flat or slightly concave; eye oval, short and high, about twice as long as high; first flagellomere three times as long as high, rounded apically; arista long and thin, about 1.5 times as long as antenna, short plumose, plumosity 0.35–0.50 times as wide as antenna. Proboscis capitate, large; palpus oval, about twice as long as wide.

Chaetotaxy: setae honey-yellow, all major setae well-developed except ocellar short, about as long as ocellar triangle or slightly longer; orbital setae 1 or 2, if 2, then subequal; frontal setae 3, equal; postocular setae about 10–12, long, in rather regular row.

Colouration and vestiture: general colouration yellow, with some irregular brownish areas, dull, except orbital plate and periphery of ocellar triangle shiny; no microtrichia except, perhaps, on orbit and parafacial. Setulae yellow to brown, orbit and frontal vitta with numerous setulae; pedicel with long yellow dorsobasal setula and numerous dense, short, brown spine-like setulae (not shown in Figure 1 ).

Thorax. Structure: Scutum square; scutellum triangular, slightly convex dorsally, broadly rounded apically.

Chaetotaxy: all major setae present and honey-yellow, including medial and lateral scapular setae; dorsocentral seta slightly longer than, and aligned slightly anterior to, acrostichal seta; both about as long as scutellum and considerably shorter than both basal and apical scutellar setae; two well-developed anepisternal setae.

Coloration and vestiture: scutum and scutellum almost entirely covered by pile of dense, fine, yellow setulae; thorax almost entirely yellow, subshiny, scutum sometimes discoloured, blackish; total of five conspicuous round black similar spots with diameter slightly less than distance between acrostichal setae: one (pair) posteroventral to intra-alar seta; one dorsomedially on scutellum, short distance from base; one (pair) lateromedially on subscutellum; fine whitish microtrichia barely visible, more so on scutum. Calypteres subequal, moderately long, yellow; halter yellow.

Legs. Yellow, without overt features; setae and setulae predominantly yellow.

Wing ( Figure 5 ). Wing length: 4.5–5.7 mm; length: width ratio: about 2.5.

Venation: vein R 1 dorsally densely setulose without gap, ventrally with several setulae distally; vein R 2+3 straight; vein R 4+5 slightly curved posteriorly beginning at about distal half of ultimate section, densely setulose both dorsally and ventrally, including four or five setulae dorsally beyond crossvein DM-Cu, and setulae extending ventrally to about crossvein DM-Cu; vein M strongly curved posteriorly, slightly but distinctly divergent from vein R 4+5, ultimate section about twice as long as penultimate section, latter 1.5–1.8 times as long as crossvein R-M; cell dm at apex about twice as wide as at base; cell bcu with elongate and more or less triangular posterodistal lobe, lobe about as long as crossvein BM- Cu.

Pattern: basically comprising two predominantly yellow longitudinal bands over hyaline background, although microtrichia mostly dark grey in hyaline areas, resulting in more or less distinct infuscation, especially in cell cu 1; anterior yellow band extends from wing base to apex, mostly filling entirely gap between vein C and vein R 4+5, slightly penetrating distally into cell r 4+5, with small conspicuous blackish spots as follows: one at base of pterostigma (near costal spine), one just proximal to crossvein R-M, and one near vein C slightly distal to crossvein R-M; in addition, distal to crossvein DM-Cu, band margined narrowly by brownish-gray, with small hyaline ‘windows’: one aligned with crossvein DM-Cu along vein R 4+5; one at tip of vein R 2+3, and one along most of costal section of cell r 2+3. Second yellow band extending from wing base along vein M to tip of vein, where narrowed and margined by brown-gray, with more or less distinct such margin also in middle of cell dm; second band mostly parallel to first band, although slightly divergent at distal 0.25. Yellow hue present around posterodistal lobe of cell bcu; small gray to blackish spot present around intersection of vein Cu 1 and crossvein DM-Cu.

Abdomen. Yellow, subshiny, sometimes partly discoloured, blackish, without distinct microtrichia, with fine yellow dense setulae and strong yellow marginal setae. Female’s tergite 6 about 0.33 as long as tergite 5.

Male terminalia. Epandrium rounded in posterior view ( Figure 2 ), with triangular lateral surstylus, not quite pointed and slightly bent at tip, with medial surstylus extending slightly beyond middle of lateral surstylus, with two prensisetae and series of six setulae (sensilla?) more dorsally. Epandrium long in lateral view ( Figure 3 ), lateral surstylus about as long as epandrium, forming distinct angle with it. Hypandrium without overt features, and cerci about as voluminous as epandrium ( Figure 3 ). Glans ( Figure 4 ) rather heavily sclerotized, especially dorsally, sclerotized bar present at joint of glans, vesica reduced, not visible.

Female terminalia. Oviscape narrow, basal half cylindrical, distal half conical, coloration and vestiture as in preabdomen. Tergal–oviscapal measure about 4. Aculeus ( Figure 6 ) unusually elongate (about 18 times as long as wide), nearly needle-like, tip trifid ( Figure 7 ); spermathecae 2, pyriform ( Figure 8 ), surface with rather fine, indistinct wrinkles and tubercles.

Third-instar larva (N 525)

Typical frugivorous tephritid maggot, length: 6.0– 8.5 mm; width: 1.0– 1.5 mm.

Cephalopharyngeal skeleton ( Figure 9 ): robust, mouth hook about as high as long, with relatively blunt apical tooth, no preapical tooth, only shallow bulge; attachment of hypopharyngeal sclerite to both mouth hook and pharyngeal sclerite wide; anterior sclerite, parastomal bar and labial sclerite distinct; dental sclerite not observed; ventral cornu slightly smaller than dorsal cornu, with small window.

Antenna and maxillary sense organ: as in Figure 10 .

Anterior spiracle ( Figure 11 ): with single row of 15–18 tubules (N 510).

Anal plate ( Figure 12 ): without obvious tubercles. Distance between posterior spiracles about equal to spiracular width.

Posterior spiracle ( Figure 13 ): spiracular openings peanut-like, about twice as long as wide, dorsal two approximately parallel to each other and to those of second spiracle; ventral opening in 30–45 u to other two; spiracular hairs few and poorly branched (two to five branches per group), short and difficult to see.

Puparium (N 530)

Length: 3.5–5.0 mm; width: 1.5–2.5 mm; yellow to brown, dull, rather smooth, without overt features; segmentation and creeping welts distinct.

Material examined

Holotype: female (NMK), Kenya: Coast Province, Sabaki, alt. 29 m, 3 u 09.4039S, 40 u 08.1649E, 18 March 2001, R. S. Copeland, ex fruit of Hunteria zeylanica (ICIPE/ USDA collection # 1113). Paratypes (NMK, ICIPE, SANC, MRAC, NHM, NMNH, TAMU, TAU): same collection data as holotype (12 males, nine females). Additional paratypes: Coast Prov., Sabaki, 3 u 09.4039S, 40 u 08.1649E, 15 m, 8 February 2001, ex fruit of Hunteria zeylanica (ICIPE/USDA collection # 1544) (14 males, 18 females). Same, but 4 January 2001 (ICIPE/USDA collection # 948) (four males, one female). Coast Prov., Sabaki, 3 u 09.4039S, 40 u 08.1649E, 29 m, 21 November 2001, ex fruit of Hunteria zeylanica (ICIPE/USDA collection # 1000) (eight males, 11 females). Coast Prov., Sabaki, alt. 29 m, 3 u 09.4039S, 40 u 08.1649E, 5 May 2001, ex fruit of Hunteria zeylanica (ICIPE/USDA collection # 1243) (three males, four females). Coast Prov., Watamu, 3 u 20.4449S, 40 u 01.6429E, 19 m, 9 February 2001, ex fruit of Hunteria zeylanica (ICIPE/USDA collection # 985) (one female). Coast Prov., Watamu, 3 u 20.499S, 40 u 01.669E, 19 m, 4 May 2001, ex fruit of Hunteria zeylanica (ICIPE/USDA collection # 1264) (one male), all collected and reared by R. S. Copeland.

Biology

Notommima parallela was discovered during a long-term project (1999–2003) on the frugivorous tephritids of Kenya ( Copeland et al. 2002, 2004), in which the junior author conducted most of the field and laboratory work, including the rearing from fruit. During the project, more than 827,000 fruits representing 768 plant species were sampled. However, N. parallela was found only in the fleshy and latex-rich fruits of Hunteria zeylanica growing in drier, exposed, and wind-swept habitats at the Kenya coast. Notommima parallela was reared from five of six collections of H. zeylanica growing on the approximately 10–20 m high dunes just north of the entrance of the Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean. At this site, 97 flies were reared from 535 fruits (711 g), with a mean number for positive collections of 0.182 (range 0.096 –0.453) N. parallela per fruit. Adults were also reared from two of seven collections of H. zeylanica at Watamu, growing approximately 1 km from the ocean on coral rag remnants of what was probably originally a Combretum schumannii – Cassipourea association of lowland dry forest ( Moomaw 1960). Here, it was present in much smaller numbers, with only two flies reared from 2158 fruits. In one of the Watamu samples, N. parallela co-occurred with the recently described Ceratitis perseus De Meyer and Copeland, 2005 . Notommima parallela was not reared from four H. zeylanica collections of a total of 32 fruits made within Arabuko-Sokoke forest (near to, but further inland than, Watamu), nor was it recovered from 30 fruits of H. zeylanica collected with other riverine vegetation at Bate, upstream along the Sabaki River.

Etymology

The specific epithet denotes the two parallel yellow bands on the wing.

Figures

Figure 5. Notommima parallela n. sp., wing.

Figures 1–4. Notommima parallela n. sp. (1) Head, lateral view. (2) Epandrium, posterior view. (3) Male terminalia, lateral view. (4) Glans.

Figures 6–8. Notommima parallela n. sp. (6) Aculeus, whole. (7) Aculeus, tip. (8) Spermatheca.

Figures 9–13. Notommima parallela n. sp., third-instar larva. (9) Cephalopharyngeal skeleton. (10) Antenna and maxillary sense organ. (11) Anterior spiracle. (12) Anal plate. (13) Posterior spiracle.