Dasineura frauenfeldi ( Schiner, 1868 )

Kolesik, Peter & Gagné, Raymond J., 2016, Revision of early taxa of Australian gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), Zootaxa 4205 (4), pp. 301-338 : 313-315

Dasineura frauenfeldi ( Schiner, 1868)

[ Figs 2 j,7]

Cecidomyia frauenfeldi Schiner, 1868: 7 .

Dasineura frauenfeldi , new combination by Kolesik (1999: 31). Dasineura tomentosa Dorchin (in Dorchin & Adair 2011: 68) , new synonym.

Material studied. Schiner (1868) stated that 10 males and 8 females were reared from plant galls collected in Sydney, NSW (between 6th November and 6th December 1858). Lodged at NHMW, dried insect specimens were inside a small glass vial with a cork stopper that was pierced with a pin bearing 3 labels, reading “Cecid. frauenfeldi Schin ”, “Sidney 30.” and “Novara 1857.-59. Reise”, accompanied by a pin with dried plant specimen bearing a gall [ Fig. 2 j middle image]. In the glass vial we found 8 males, 9 females and 2 pupal skins, all of which were mounted. The type males, females, and pupae have retained major morphological characters in at least one specimen except for the terminal antennal flagellomeres which were missing in all males originally ( Schiner 1868) and only one and five basal flagellomeres retaining among all the females. One of the males is designated here as lectotype, remaining 7 males, 9 females and 2 pupal skins as paralectotypes.

Associated gall. Schiner (1868) included in his paper a figure of the gall [ Fig. 2 j left image] and described it as a large ornate pine cone-shaped swelling of the branch tip on Melaleuca sp. Skuse collected this species and corrected the host name to Leptospermum laevigatum (Anonymous 1890) . Based on Schiner’s original figure of the gall and the surviving dried plant specimen [ Fig. 2 j middle image], Martin O’Leary and Hellmut Toelken (pers. comm., 2014), both of South Australian Herbarium, Adelaide, agreed with Skuse (Anonymous 1890) on the host plant being L. laevigatum . Floral and vegetative bud galls of this species on L. laevigatum were collected by Penny Gullan at Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria [38°55’S, 146°22’E], in January 2005 and by one of us (PK) at Queenscliff, Victoria, [38°16’S, 144°40’E], on 8th December 2008 [ Fig. 2 j right]. Dasineura tomentosa Dorchin was reared from the same kind of gall on floral and vegetative buds of L. laevigatum at Pearcedale, Victoria [38°14.325′S, 145°14.129′E] in September 2004 ( Dorchin & Adair 2011). Dorchin & Adair’s (2011) description of D. tomentosa fits D. frauenfeldi and confirms the synonymy of D. tomentosa with D. frauenfeldi .

Description [ Fig. 7 ]. Abdomen of adults reddish yellow (Schiner 1858).

Male. Wing 2.1 mm long, 0.9 mm wide. Palpus four-segmented; segments progressively longer, second widest; palpiger present. Eye bridge 6–7 ocelli long. Antennae with 17–18 flagellomeres ( Dorchin & Adair 2011), flagellomeres with largest number 17 but all missing one or more terminal ones. Flagellomeres with necks slightly shorter than nodes, first and second flagellomeres fused dorsally, nodes with two transverse and one vertical circumfila. Wing: R4+5 slightly shorter than wing length, slightly bowed at distal fourth; R1 slightly shorter than ½ wing length; Rs not present; C with break at juncture with R4+5. Tarsal claws toothed, empodia as long as claws. Terminalia: gonocoxite cylindrical beyond mediobasal lobe, lobe divided into dorsal, rounded part covered with long microtrichia and ventral, longer, more tapered part with 3 short setae apically and otherwise covered with microtrichia; gonocoxal apodemes merged basally; gonostylus tapered distally, sparsely setose, covered with dense microtrichia to about 1/3 length dorsally and nearly entirely ventrally, bearing distal comb-like claw apically; aedeagus slightly longer than mediobasal lobe; mediobasal lobe broad, subdivided, the dorsal part of lobe short, hemispherical, long-microtrichose, ventral part tapered, closely sheathing one side of the aedeagus, nearly as long as aedeagus, mostly microtrichose but glabrous apically, tipped with short setae; cerci elliptical in dorsal view, with several setae at posterior edge; hypoproct deeply divided, lobes narrow, each bearing single apical seta.

Female. Wing 2.3 mm long, 0.9 mm wide. Antennae with 18 flagellomeres (Schiner 1858), Dorchin & Adair (2011) give 16–18. Flagellomeres with nodes twice as long as wide, with two transverse and one vertical circumfila, necks 1/7 node length. Seventh tergite widest at posterior edge, width at anterior fourth half of posterior width, sclerites of eighth tergum slightly converging around midlength, trichoid sensilla at anterior fourth. Ovipositor long, protractile; fused cerci cylindrical, 5x longer than basal width, vestiture not present, presumably lost in preparation, hypoproct about 1/8 length of cerci, with pair of apical setae.

Pupa. Length 2.6 mm. Colour: abdomen red, remaining parts brown ( Schiner 1868). Antennal base with small triangular projection. Prothoracic spiracle slightly tapering, many times longer than wide at base, slightly curved at apical fourth, trachea ending at apex. Cephalic papilla with long thin seta. Frons on either side with one asetose papilla, additionally accompanied by one asetose papilla on one side of one of two available specimens. Integument of abdominal segments with spiculae, segments 2–8 each with field of simple short dorsal spines on anterior half, on either side with one outer and one inner asetose dorsal papilla.

Remarks. Dorchin & Adair (2011) described adults, pupae and larvae of D. frauenfeldi (as D. tomentosa ) and compared them to those of Dasineura strobila Dorchin that causes pine-cone like galls on vegetative and floral buds of Leptospermum laevigatum and possibly also on L. myrsioides and L. lanigerum .

Figures

FIGURE 2. (a) Galls of Lasioptera miscella Skuse on leaf stalks of Eucalyptus haemastoma, (b) leaf galls of Okriomyia omalanthi (Skuse) on Omalanthus populifolius, (c) stem galls of Daphnephila glandifex Kieffer on Machilus gamblei (Lauraceae) from India which Edwards (1916) stated resembled galls of Asphondylia hilli Edwards, (d) flowers galls of Dasineura dielsi Rübsaamen on Acacia cyclops, (e) galls of Cecidomyia eucalypti Skuse (unplaced Cecidomyiinae) on stems of Eucalyptus haemastoma, (f) galls of Mesodiplosis callitridis Kolesik on branch shoot tips of Callitris endlicheri from which the inquiline Gladiodiplosis frenelae (Skuse) was reared, (g) flower galls of Dasineura acaciaelongifoliae (Skuse) on Acacia longifolia, (h) leaf galls attributed to Cecidomyia parilis Skuse (nomen dubium) on Eucalyptus corymbosa, (i) leaf galls of Heteropeza transmarina Schiner (unplaced Cecidomyiinae) on Callistemon sp., (j) flower and vegetative bud galls of Dasineura frauenfeldi (Schiner) on Leptospermum laevigatum. Left: original figure from Schiner (1868); centre: galls collected with type series in 1858; right: galls collected by Kolesik at Queenscliff, Victoria, in 2008. Figures a, b, e – h from Skuse (1890); c from Kieffer (1913 b); d from Rübsaamen (1916); i, j (left) from Schiner (1868).

FIGURE 7. Dasineura frauenfeldi (Schiner). a – c: male; d: pupa; e – j: female. (a) terminalia in dorsal view, (b) fourth flagellomere in lateral view, (c) palpus with palpiger, (d) anterior part in ventral view, (e) wing (partially damaged) (f) third flagellomere in ventral view, (g) end of ovipositor in lateral view (vestiture presumably lost in preparation), (h) tarsal claw and empodium, (i) seventh tergite, (j) eighth tergite.