Ophiomyia coniceps (Malloch)

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

Ophiomyia coniceps (Malloch)

Figs 75-77 , 82 , 337-341

Agromyza coniceps Malloch, 1915a: 107.

Ophiomyia coniceps . Frick 1952a: 382; Spencer 1969: 85, 1981: 75; Spencer and Steyskal 1986b: 46; Shi, Chunyan and Gao 2015: 59; Eiseman and Lonsdale 2018: 19.

Description

(Figs 75-77 , 82 ). Wing length 1.7-1.9 mm (♂), 2.4 mm (♀). Length of ultimate section of vein M4 divided by penultimate section: 0.9-1.0. Eye height divided by gena height: 6.8. Facial carina distinct with large medial bulb; carina as broad as bulb dorsally with sides diverging. Eye angled diagonally. Gena strongly produced anteriorly, forming an ~ 45° angle. Parafacial also strongly produced, visible laterally, and blending into gena. Fronto-orbital plate narrow. Clypeus strongly produced and narrowed anteriorly, with apex slightly expanded; sides bowed laterally, widest near base. Sides of ocellar triangle slightly concave; triangle subshiny but sometimes glossier. Crossveins separated by length of dm-m or less.

Chaetotaxy: Male vibrissal fasciculus short and upcurved, not longer than genal process. Two ori (not three, as stated in Spencer and Steyskal 1986b); two ors. Mid tibia without posteromedial setae.

Colouration: Body, including halter dark brown. Fronto-orbital plate and ocellar triangle reddish in DE male. Calypter margin and hairs dark brown. Abdomen sometimes with faint coppery/golden shine. Wing veins brown.

Genitalia: (Figs 337-341 ) Surstylus broad, rounded, short, slightly produced ventrally, inner-distal surface with two to three rows of tubercle-like setae. Hypandrium pointed apically, sides slightly bowed, basal arms sinuate. Postgonite typical, narrow with dorsal 1/2 weakly attached and dorsally directed. Phallophorus dark and constricted at base, narrow, venter longer, swollen and produced. Basiphallus with arms united at base, left arm short, weak, and ill-defined, right arm long, reaching level of mesophallus. Mesophallus cylindrical, clear, inserted ventromedially into distiphallus. Distiphallus, large, mostly empty with medial shelf-like process that is slightly angled apically; somewhat ovate in ventral view with basal 1/2 narrower and slightly longer; inner surface minutely textured basally, with longer spinules medially, apically with shallow tubercles and striations to left side and longer rounded spinules to right side; mostly open dorsally; left ventrodistal margin produced as characteristic lobe that may be modestly to strongly developed.

Host.

Asteraceae - Antennaria plantaginifolia and possibly other Antennaria ; Sonchus asper ( Eiseman and Lonsdale 2018).

Distribution.

Canada: BC, MB, ON, QC, SK. USA: CA, DE*, IN, LA, MA, OK, UT, VA*; possibly also AL, CT, IA, WI ( Eiseman and Lonsdale 2018).

Type material.

Holotype: USA. UT: Salt Lake, 14.viii.1914, ex. Sonchus asper , P.H. Timberlake (1♀, USNM; type No. 193904).

Additional material examined.

Canada. MB: Aweme , 2.vi.1916, N. Criddle, J.M. Aldrich (1♂, USNM) . USA. DE: Newark , 1.vii.1974 (1♂, USNM), IN: Evansville , 7.v.1914, J.M. Aldrich (1♂, USNM), LA: Lake Charles , 9.vi.1917, J.M. Aldrich (1♂, USNM), MA: Hampshire Co., Granby , Mt. Norwottuck , 27.iii.2012, em. 11.iv-24.iv.2012, C.S. Eiseman, ex Antennaria plantaginifolia (5♂ 3♀, CNC), OK: Payne Co. , Mehan , 36.014339°N, 96.996744°W, 10.xii.2015, em. 15.i.2016, M.W. Palmer, ex Antennaria plantaginifolia , #CSE2214, CNC653970-653972 (2♂ 1♀, CNC), 12.xii.2015, em. by 12.i.2016, M.W. Palmer, ex Antennaria plantaginifolia , #CSE2216, CNC653988 (1♂, CNC), 14.i.2016, em. by 10-16.ii.2016, M.W. Palmer, ex Antennaria plantaginifolia , #CSE2237, CNC654000-654002 (3♂, CNC), 27.ii.2017, em. 18.iii- 15.vi.2017, C.S. Eiseman, ex Antennaria plantaginifolia , #CSE3229, CNC939913-939917 (3♂ 2♀, CNC), VA: Luray, 24.vi.1933, A.L. Melander (1♂, USNM), Page Co., 7mi W of Lunay, 8.vii.1978, G.F. Hevel (1♂, USNM), Shenandoah, Big Meadows, 3.vii.1939, A.L. Melander (1♂, USNM) .

Comments.

Ophiomyia coniceps will key to O. apta Spencer in Spencer and Steyskal (1986b: figs 224-226) because the number of ori in that work is incorrectly recorded as three, not two. This can no longer be directly verified from the holotype, however, since the head is missing, but the original illustration and description in Malloch (1915) clearly indicates two ori. Ophiomyia coniceps has the most pronounced genal process of any Delmarva species, a strongly projecting parafacial and most important for diagnostic purposes, a very short and sometimes wide vibrissal fasciculus that is usually sharply pointed. The male genitalia are similar to those of other Ophiomyia with a fasciculus, but the outline of the distiphallus, the longer inner-medial spinules, and especially its small left ventrodistal lobe are unique.

Figures

Figures 69 - 77. Ophiomyia simplex (Loew), head 69 anterior 70 lateral 71, 72 Ophiomyia abutilivora Spencer, head 71 anterior 72 lateral 73, 74 Ophiomyia ultima (Spencer), head 73 anterior 74 lateral 75 - 77 Ophiomyia coniceps (Malloch), head 75 anterior 76 lateral 77 ventral.

Figures 78 - 83. Ophiomyia labiatarum Hering, head 78 anterior 79 lateral 80 ventral 81 Ophiomyia carolinensis Spencer, female (C. Eiseman - Massachusetts) 82 Ophiomyia coniceps (Malloch), male (C. Eiseman - Massachusetts) 83 Ophiomyia sp. (S. A. Marshall - Virginia, Butt Mtn.).

Figures 337 - 341. Ophiomyia coniceps (Malloch), male genitalia 337 external genitalia, left lateral 338 hypandrium, ventral 339 ejaculatory apodeme 340 phallus, ventral 341 phallus, left lateral.