Drosophila (Sophophora) malagassya Tsacas & Rafael, 1982

Yassin, Amir, Suwalski, Arnaud & Raveloson Ravaomanarivo, Lala H., 2019, Resolving the synonymy and polyphyly of the ‘ Drosophila bakoue species complex’ (Diptera: Drosophilidae: ‘ D. montium species group’) with descriptions of two new species from Madagascar, European Journal of Taxonomy 532, pp. 1-26 : 13-14

Drosophila (Sophophora) malagassya Tsacas & Rafael, 1982

Figs 1–2 , 4 C–D, 5B, 6C–D

Drosophila (Sophophora) malagassya Tsacas & Rafael, 1982: 86 .

Diagnosis

Male and female body pigmentation including halters and legs yellow ( Fig. 4 C–D); male abdominal tergites T2, T5 and T6 completely black; T3 and T4 with a broad black stripes not expanding towards the margins ( Fig. 4C ); dorsalmost surstylus prensiseta on the same axis with remaining prensisetae; hypandrial median process strongly pointed; aedeagus spatulate ( Fig. 5B ); female T2 almost entirely black, T3 and T4 with a broad black stripe and an expanding grayish area on the margin, T5 with a black stripe but no grayish area ( Fig. 4B ); oviscapt fourth posterior peg-like outer ovisensillum on the same axis with the third and fifth ovisensilla ( Fig. 6C ), with anterior ovisensilla short and thick ( Fig. 6D ).

Type material

Holotype

MADAGASCAR • ♂; Antananarivo, Botanical and Zoological Garden of Tsimbazaza ; 18°55′ S, 47°31′ E; Sep. 1980; D. Lachaise leg.; MNHN.

Other material examined

MADAGASCAR • 5 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; Andasibe ; 17°20′ S, 48°54′ E; 16–17 Feb. 2008 (ex-laboratory strain Jul. 2014); J.R. David & A. Yassin leg.; ZUAC .

Description

As in Tsacas & Rafael (1982).

Distribution

Madagascar (endemic).

Remarks

The species was described from a laboratory strain collected from the Tsimbazaza Botanical Park in Antananarivo in 1980. With Jean R. David and Vincent Debat, we collected it in 2008 and 2010 from Andasibe, Mandraka and Ranomafana. Rafael (1984) showed that D. malagassya crossed readily with a Cameroonian strain attributed to D. bakoue , producing sterile F 1 males and females, and to a lesser degree with D. tsacasi , producing a few or unviable F1 flies. David et al. (2014) suggested the presence of D. malagassya on the island of Mayotte ( Comoros archipelago), but the Mayotte strain turned out to be D. seguyi . The females of D. malagassya have two color morphs ( Yassin et al. 2016).

Figures

Fig. 1. Bayesian phylogeny of 19 species from the ‘D. montium species group’ Da Lage, 2007 inferred from complete mitochondrial genomes. Nodes supported by 100% posterior probability (pp) are not labeled, those with pp> 90% or 60% are labeled with gray and white circles, respectively. Species belonging to the ‘D. bocqueti species complex’ and the ‘D. bakoue species complex’ are highlighted in orange and green, respectively. ‘K’ and ‘B’ refer to the strains of D. aff tsacasi Bock & Wheeler, 1972 from Kenya and Bioko Island, respectively.

Fig. 2. Comparison of Bayesian phylogenies of the ‘D. seguyi species subgroup’ Yassin, 2018 inferred from mitochondrial COI (left) and nuclear Amyrel (right) genes. Nodes supported by>95% posterior probability (pp) are labeled with black circles. An asterisk refers to species sequenced here, whereas two asterisks refer to the sequence of D. vulcana Graber, 1957 of Da Lage et al. (2007), which turned out to belong to D. seguyi Smart, 1945 from Kenya (see the text). Note the discrepancy in position of different geographical strains of D. bakoue Tsacas & Lachaise, 1974 (in red) between the two genes. Species belonging to ‘D. bocqueti species complex’ Tsacas & Lachaise, 1974, ‘D. bakoue species complex’ Rafael, 1984, ‘D. nikananu species complex’ Tsacas & Chassagnard, 1992, and ‘D. megapyga species complex’ Lachaise & Tsacas, 2001 are highlighted in orange, green, yellow and red, respectively.

Fig. 4. Adult habitus. A–B. D. seguyi Smart, 1945 (MNHN). A. ♂. B. ♀. C–D. D. malagassya Tsacas & Rafael, 1982 (MNHN). C. ♂. D. ♀. E–F. D. curta Chassagnard & Tsacas, 1997 (MNHN). E. ♂. F. ♀. G–H. D. chocolata Yassin & David sp. nov. (MNHN). G. ♂. H. ♀. Only dark morphs of females of species with female-limited color dimorphism are shown. Scale bar = 1 mm.

Fig. 5. Male terminalia of the ‘D. seguyi species complex’. A. D. seguyi Smart, 1945 (MNHN). B. D. malagassya Tsacas & Rafael, 1982 (MNHN). C. D. curta Chassagnard & Tsacas, 1997 (MNHN). D–F. D. chocolata Yassin & David sp. nov. Scale bars: A–D = 50 µm; E–F = 100 µm..

Fig. 6. Female oviscapts of the ‘D. seguyi species complex’. A–B. D. seguyi Smart, 1945 (MNHN). C–D. D. malagassya Tsacas & Rafael, 1982 (MNHN). E–F. D. curta Chassagnard & Tsacas, 1997 (MNHN). G–H. D. chocolata Yassin & David sp. nov. (MNHN). Scale bars: A, C, E, G = 100 µm; B, D, F, H = 50 µm.