Phytomyza aquilegivora Spencer, 1969

Lonsdale, Owen, 2021, Manual of North American Agromyzidae (Diptera, Schizophora), with revision of the fauna of the " Delmarva " states, ZooKeys 1051, pp. 1-481 : 1

Phytomyza aquilegivora Spencer

Figs 741-744

Phytomyza aquilegivora Spencer, 1969: 229. Spencer and Steyskal 1986b: 198; Scheffer and Lonsdale 2018: 88; Eiseman and Lonsdale 2018: 68.

Phytomyza aquilegiae Hardy. Misidentification. Cory 1916: 419.

Description.

Wing length 1.5-1.7 mm (♂), 1.7-2.0 mm (♀). Vein dm-m absent. Eye height divided by gena height: 2.4-3.8. Female first flagellomere large, rounded, 1/2 height of eye; male first flagellomere slightly larger than that of sibling species, as high or higher than long. Fronto-orbital plate well-sclerotised, shiny and clearly delimited, slightly widened, more evident posteriorly; soft medial portion of frons wider than long behind relatively broad, deep lunule.

Chaetotaxy: Setae short and gracile, particularly on notum. One ori, sometimes with smaller anterior seta; one longer medial ors. Orbital setulae very few in number, slightly longer than average. Postocellar and ocellar setae nearly as long as, and slightly thinner than ori. Acrostichal setulae in two sparse rows or absent. Four dorsocentral setae, decreasing in length anteriorly.

Colouration: Head dirty yellow with tubercle, back of head, posterior region of postgena, clypeus, palpus, ventral margin of gena, fronto-orbital plate and ring around eye including parafacial and cheek dark brown; lunule usually brownish to brown, anteromedial region of frons sometimes browner; antenna dark brown with first flagellomere nearly black; face brown; gena usually brownish or distinctly brown. Thorax dark brown, subshiny. Halter white. Calypter margin brownish, hairs brown. Legs brown with apex of femora yellow for a distance sometimes greater than width of femur apex. Abdomen brown. Female slightly darker.

Genitalia: (Figs 741-744 ) Hypandrium broadly arched; inner lobe short and broad with three setae. Postgonite long, upcurved and cleft apically, with one seta. Halves of basiphallus relatively short, as long as enlarged hypophallus; crossing near base, strongly diverging apically to base of hypophallus. Mesophallus indistinct. Distiphallus narrow, tubular, lightly pigmented, apex swollen, angled dorsally, as long as basiphallus. Ejaculatory apodeme small, not much longer than wide, with much of sperm pump and base of duct pigmented.

Host.

Ranunculaceae - Aquilegia .

Distribution.

Canada: AB, ON. USA: CA, CT, DC, DE*, IL, MA, MD*, NC, NY.

Type material.

Holotype: Canada. ON: Pelee, em. 25.ix.1967, ex. leaf mine on Aquilegia canadensis , leg. 15.vii.1967, K.A. Spencer (1♂, CNC).

Additional material examined.

Canada. ON: Ancaster, 26.vi.1955, O. Peck, CNC480072 (1♀, CNC), Ottawa, Central Experimental Farm, 31.v.2013, O. Lonsdale, leaf mine Aquilegia CNC454640-CNC454659 (10♂ 10♀, CNC), Constance Bay , 31.v.2013, O. Lonsdale, leaf miner on Aquilegia sp., CNC799378 (1♂, CNC) . USA. CT: Newhaven, 2.ix.1984, C398 (1♂, USNM), 29.ix.1894 (1♂ 1♀, USNM), DC: Washington, 14.v.1915, from columbine, R.L. Woglum (3♂ 8♀, USNM), DE: Newark, 15.vi.1979, R.M. Hendrickson, Jr., reared ex. Aquilegia sp. (6♂ 4♀, USNM), IN: Lafayette, 28.ix.1916, Satterthwait coll., reared from leaf miner, Cage No. C 862b (1♂, USNM), MA: Hampshire Co., Pelham, 88 Arnold Rd. , 25.v.2012, em. 4.vii.2012, C.S. Eiseman, ex linear mine Aquilegia vulgaris (1♂, CNC), MD: Montgomery Co. , Bethseda, v.1972, ex. cwt Aquilegia (9♂ 6♀ [with puparia and chalcidoid], USNM), "May 26", "Cory 1914, bred from columbine", "exp. No. [illegible] (1♂, USNM), NY: Ithaca, reared from columbine, S.W. Frost, Lot A-25, sub 5 (1?, USNM). Location Unknown. mine in Aquilegia CNC480071 (7♂ / ♀, CNC), ILLR (1♀, USNM) .

Comments.

Spencer (1969) suspected that Frick’s (1959) eastern specimens of the Holarctic species Phytomyza minuscula Goureau were actually P. aquilegivora , thereby reducing P. minuscula 's North American range to the western United States until Eiseman and Lonsdale (2018) recorded it from Vermont. The material examined by Frick (originally USNM, but noted as still being "on loan" from 4.i.1956) cannot be located to verify their identity. Phytomyza minuscula differs from this species in having a medially brownish (not yellow) frons and an apically curved (not straight) distiphallus. The USNM specimen collected by Cory in 1914 appears to refer to the species discussed by Cory (1916) as P. Phytomyza aquilegiae , which is here therefore considered a misidentification, at least in part; the state is not listed on the label, but derived from the publication.

Figures

Figures 741 - 744. Phytomyza aquilegivora Spencer, male genitalia 741 hypandrium and postgonite, ventral 742 hypandrial complex, left lateral 743 phallus, ventral 744 male genitalia associated, left ventrolateral.