Dacus ( Neodacus ) perpusillus Drew, 1971

Leblanc, Luc, 2022, The dacine fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini) of Oceania, Insecta Mundi 2022 (948), pp. 1-167 : 150

Dacus ( Neodacus) perpusillus Drew, 1971 , restored combination

Figure 91

Distribution. New Caledonia (mainland, Maré, Lifou).

Male lure. Cue-lure.

Host plants. No known host.

Biology. Monthly trapping data illustrated on Figure 135 .

Notes. This species was originally described as Dacus ( Asiadacus) perpusillus Drew, 1971 and later reassigned as Bactrocera ( Sinodacus) perpusilla (Drew) by Drew (1989). More recently, it was transferred to genus Zeugodacus , as Z. ( Sinodacus) perpusillus (Drew) (DeMeyer et al. 2015; Doorenweerd et al. 2018) or treated as Bactrocera ( Parasinodacus) perpusilla (Drew) by Hancock and Drew (2017b). A close morphological examination of fresh specimens collected by the author in New Caledonia in 2019 clearly shows that this species belongs to genus Dacus and subgenus Neodacus , as defined by Drew and Romig (2013, 2022), further confirmed by genetic data ( Doorenweerd et al. 2020). I am therefore reassigning this species as Dacus ( Neodacus) perpusillus Drew.

Figures

Figure 91. Dacus (Neodacus) perpusillus Drew, male. A) Head. B–C) Head and scutum. D–E) Abdomen. F) Wing. G) Lateral view.

Figure 135. Mean (±SE) daily captures of Dacus perpusillus (Drew) in cue-lure traps maintained in New Caledonia (Mainland, Lifou) between January 1996 and December 1998, based on 17 trapping sites (n = 612, mean FTD = 0.05).