Phthiria fulva Meigen (1804)

Gharali, Babak & Evenhuis, Neal, 2017, Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov. (Bombyliidae, Phthiriinae, Phthiriini) from Northern Iran with the first record of Phthiria fulva Meigen, 1804 reared from a lepidopteran and description of the pupa, Zootaxa 4300 (1), pp. 55-70 : 65-69

Pupa of Phthiria fulva Meigen (1804)

( Figs. 6 , 7)

Material examined. Two pupal exuviae, from specimens reared from the pupa of Argyresthia sp. ( Yponomeutidae ), under the bark of Juniperus excelsa, Hosseinabad forest, N36 ̊33' E49 ̊17', 1800 m a.s.l., 19.xii.2007, leg. Babak Gharali.

Description. Body length: 5 mm, Head width: 1 mm, thorax width: 1.3 mm; abdomen width 1.2 mm tapering to 0.6 mm on anal segment. Coloration: yellowish brown.

Head (ventral): anterior and posterior antennal processes ( Figs. 6 a, d) united as a pyramid-shaped truncated tubercle, margins well sclerotized, blackish brown, apex heavily sclerotized, black, with two very short denticles; median facial spines substitute by two hairs; lateral facial spines as two small swellings; proboscis and maxillary sheaths smooth; anterior and posterior coxal sheaths smooth; proboscis sheath extending to about same length as leg sheaths. Wing sheath and thoracic area smooth ( Fig. 6 b). Abdominal tergite I ( Fig. 6 b) without spines, only with row of six long, yellowish setae on anterior margin; segments II to VII laterally with one pair of long setae, medially with a transverse row of black spines intercalated with long setae, each row with seven backwardly curved spines inserted in sclerotized plates; lateral spines smaller than median ones; tergite VIII ( Fig. 6 e) laterally with three pairs of yellowish setae, dorsally with a row of four backwardly curved spines intercalated with long setae, without sclerotized plate at base of spines; tergite IX ( Fig. 6 c, 7c) with two pairs of processes, ventral posterolateral processes long, about 2.0 times longer than dorsal ones, curved, brownish, apically darkened; dorsal processes short, straight, darker apically.

FIGURE. 7. Pupa of Phthiria fulva Meigen : a. ventral view; b. lateral view; c. segment IX; d. segment II; e. spine.

Remarks. As currently known, members of the genus Phthiria are external parasitoids of the lepidopteron families Gelechiidae and Tortricidae ( Yeates & Greathead, 1997) . Séguy (1926) specifically mentioned Scrobipalpula psilella (= Lita psilella ) [ Gelechiidae ] as a host of Ph. pulicaria . Rearing of parasitoids on Argyresthia sp., a serious fruit pest of Juniperus excelsa (Fig. 8b, c), showed that Phthiria fulva Fabricius is a useful parasitoid in the north of Iran, on Hosseinabad Forest (Fig. 8a). This finding broadens the host range of Phthiria to include family Yponomeutidae , whose members are commonly known as fruit moths.

FIGURE. 8. Habitat of Phthiria fulva Meigen : a. Hosseinabad forest; b. Juniperus excelsa trunk; c. pupae of Argyresthia sp. under Juniperus tree bark.

In the key to the pupae of bee flies, Hull (1973) considered the status of chitinous spines on the abdominal segments as the one of diagnostic characters separating subfamilies. His key (couplet 3) shows that presence of chitinous spines on the two first abdominal segments is a main feature of the subfamily Phthiriinae . The pupa of Ph. fulva has chitinous spines in all but the first abdominal segment so this feature does not correspond to Hull’s key. Both Hull’s (1973) illustration (page 42) and our pupa have ventral and dorsal posterolateral processes on the last segment. This common feature was considered as a secondary character in Hull’s key. This new finding requires a rearrangement of features in Couplet 3 of that key and also verifies the tribal division of the subfamily Phthiriinae in which Phthiriini are parasites of the species of the order Lepidoptera and the host of the tribe Poecilognathini confined to the orders Hymenoptera and Orthoptera .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Pupa of Phthiria fulva Meigen: a. lateral view; b. dorsal view; c. two last segments (lateral view); d. head (lateral view); e. last segments (dorsal view).