Heringina Aczél 1940

Namin, Saeed Mohamadzade & Korneyev, Severyn V., 2015, Revision of Heringina Aczél, 1940 (Diptera: Tephritidae), with description of a new species from Iran and Turkey, Zootaxa 3949 (1), pp. 111-122 : 112-114

Heringina Aczél 1940

Type species: Tephritis guttata Fallén 1814 , by original designation.

Aczél 1940: 234; Richter 1965: 148; 1970: 163; Merz 1994: 52; Norrbom et al. 1999: 158; Korneyev 2004: 627; Merz & Korneyev 2004; Smit 2010: 104; Koçak & Kemal 2013: 34.

Description. Head ( Figs. 3 , 16 ) in profile slightly higher than long. Frons flat or slightly convex. Frontal stripe matt, longitudinally striate, with conspicuously microtrichose vitta narrowing from ocellar triangle to lunule and fine yellowish hairs in anterior half. Eye bare, oval, 1.2–1.3 times as high as long. Gena narrower than length of antenna. Face concave, entirely microtrichose. Antenna somewhat shorter than face, third segment rounded apically, less than twice as long as wide, arista with short pubescence. Proboscis capitate, palp unmodified. Two pairs of dark frontal and two orbital setae present; ocellar, median vertical, anterior orbital, genal and frontal setae yellowish brown and acuminate; ocellar seta normally developed, posterior orbital, postocellar, lateral vertical and paravertical setae whitish and acuminate; 3–4 postocular setae whitish and lanceolate, and 7–10 postocular setulae black and acuminate. Setulae on anterior part of gena, on distal part of palp and on pedicel brownish; remaining setulae whitish; ocellar triangle without any additional setulae.

Thorax. Ground color dark brown to yellowish brown with notopleural area yellow and scutellum yellowish at least in lateral part. Chatotaxy as in the genus Tephritis ; dorsocentral setae on transverse suture; posterior notopleural seta white and lanceolate; remaining setae brownish yellow, acuminate. Scutellum flat and microtrichose, with two pairs of setae; apical setae 0.4–0.6 times as long as basal one.

Wing ( Figs 2 & 15 ) dark brown to yellowish brown, with round, entirely isolated hyaline spots in the disk (four of them forming a tetragon at the sides of r-m crossvein), and dark apical and marginal rays. Costal vein with 2 strong setae before costal break, each 0.8–0.9 times as long as width of costal cell. Pterostigma 2–2.5 times as long as wide. Vein R1 dorsally with a gap in row of setulae at level of Sc apex, and ventrally with few setulae in apical part. Cell r1 usually with 4 (rarely 5, very rarely 3) isolated hyaline spots. Vein R4+5 dorsally with 3–5 setulae dorsally at node, sometimes to crossvein r-m, and with 5–12 setulae between its base and r-m on ventral side, sometimes beyond the latter, to the level of crossvein dm-cu. Distance between crossveins r-m and dm-cu slightly longer than r-m crossvein. Cell bcu with short posteroapical extension.

Abdomen with densely microtrichose syntergite 1+2, sparsely microtrichose tergites 3–4 of male and 3–5 of female, tergite 5 of male and tergite 6 of female shining; tergites 3–5 (-6) black setulose over disk, with white and lanceolate marginal setae; tergite 5 of male also with long brown marginal setae ( Figs. 17–18 ).

Male terminalia. Epandrium oval with non-modified surstyli, as in Tephritis ; two pairs of prensisetae ( Figs. 12 & 22 ); phallus with bare stipe bearing neither spines nor microtrichia; glans long, with conspicuously sclerotized basal part; no acrophallus; apical membranous lobes (“vesica”) longer than basal sclerotized part.

Female terminalia. Oviscape about as long as last two tergites combined ( Fig. 18 ). Aculeus gradually narrowing towards its tip and truncated apically: bluntly rounded without notch, but with one pair of small preapical steps ( Figs. 8 & 20 ). Eversible membrane uniformly covered with short and blunt scales. Spermathecae teardrop shaped with narrowed neck.

Diagnosis. Heringina is similar to Tephritis in having two pairs of uncolored frontal setae, two orbital setae (posterior white, except in Tephritis arnicae Linnaeus ), short and white lateral vertical seta, no additional setulae on ocellar triangle, only one pair of postocellar setae, dorsocentral setae on transverse suture, apical scutellar seta present, at least 0.4 as long as basal one, posterior notopleural seta white (except in Tephritis arnicae (L.) and T. conura Loew ), wing with strong seta on costa proximally of subcostal break, vein R1 dorsally with gap in row of setulae, vein R4+5 setulose ventrally to r-m, phallus without spines (except in Tephritis conyzifoliae Merz ), glans without spines or other sclerotized projections in basal part, moderately short and flattened, non-serrate aculeus and two spermathecae. Heringina differs from most species of Tephritis by having dark wing with widely isolated hyaline spots, including cell cua and anal lobe (pattern in Tephritis carmen Hering 1937 , T. pulchra ( Loew 1844) , and T. simplex ( Loew 1844) , is similar but cua and anal lobe with partly fused spots), cell r2+3 with four rather than two or three hyaline spots, vein R4+5 setulose also dorsally, at least at base, cell r4+5 with anterobasal thickening (“bulla”), tergites 3–4 of male and 3–5 of female very sparsely microtrichose, tergite 5 of male and 6 of female shining (similarly, in Tephritis corolla Richter and T. sauterina Merz , and occasionally within some other genera of Tephritinae , but those species clearly differ at least by different wing patterns), as well as by blunt aculeus (aculeus conspicuously tapered towards its apex in all other Tephritis and most related genera, except Tephritomyia ).

A monotypic Afrotropical genus Multireticula Merz 1999 and its type species M. perspicillata (Bezzi 1924) is similar to both Heringina and Tephritis in having similar set of setae on the head and thorax (including 2 pairs of frontal and scutellar setae), similar shape of the head, unmodified antennae, palpi, and epandrium, and the phallus lacking inner sclerotized structures of the glans, as in Tephritis and Heringina . It differs from Heringina mostly by having microtrichose abdominal tergites 3–6 (shining in Heringina ) and a very acute, pointed aculeus (blunt, almost truncated in Heringina ).

Biology. The life history of Heringina remains almost unknown. After mentioning “ Trypeta gemmata ” on a list of fruit-fly species, Boie (1847) enumerated plants, in which he found larvae of the tephritids: “ Hieracium sabaudum , Chrysanthemum leucanthemum , Cnicus palustris und Anthemis arvensis ”. It is however not obvious whether these data correspond to “ T. gemmata ” (a synonym of H. guttata ) or any other fruit fly species. Loew (1862) cited these data; later, they were repeated by Hendel (1927), Séguy (1934), Richter (1970), and Merz (1994) without a critical review.

However, we were unable either to rear this species from any flower heads in the areas, where it occurs, or find any reliable records on rearing of this species in the collections.

From our personal field observations, the genus Heringina occurs in moderately dry grasslands and is always swept in connection with Helichrysum arenarium (L.) Moench or other species of that genus, usually together with Actinoptera discoidea Fallén , which infests flower heads of that plant. As we have never reared H. guttata from the flower heads, we suppose that its larvae possibly live in shoots. Once that host plant was mentioned by Richter (1970), but without reference to the original record.

We consider that the data of Boie (1847) actually could belong to species of Tephritis , which also possess black wing patterns: T. ruralis ( Loew 1844) (infesting Hieracium spp.: see Frauenfeld 1861; Merz 1994), T. neesii (Meigen 1830) (infesting Leucanthemum vulgare: see Merz 1994; Boie’s references to “ Chrysanthemum leucanthemum ” and “ Anthemis arvensis ” might belong here), and T. conura ( Loew 1844) (infesting Cirsium spp.: see Merz 1994; Diegisser et al. 2006), which are now known to infest these plants, but certainly not to H. guttata .

According to Merz (1999b), larvae of Multireticula perspicillata Bezzi (which is superficially similar to some Heringina ) induce stem galls on Helichrysum in Kenya. Gall induction occasionally occurs also in some Tephritis (Friedberg 1984) .

Taxonomic position. Most diagnostic characters of Heringina support its placement into Tephritis-Trupanea group of genera (sensu Merz 1999) of the tribe Tephritini . The combination of two dark frontal setae in combination with the presence of two pairs of scutellar setae and glans without acrophallus place Heringina into a common lineage with Tephritis Latreille, Australotephritis Drew and Multireticula Merz , but their relationships remain unsolved. Distribution of morphological characters among them does not contradict the hypotheses that Heringina either is one of the basal groups in this complex or an ingroup of Tephritis . Existing morphological data are insufficient for determination of its exact position.

In the Neighbour-joining analysis based only on COI sequences ( Smit et al. 2013), Heringina guttata is placed within a monophyletic lineage together with other Tephritis species, but as the basal branching is not supported by bootstraps higher than 50, it is impossible to say, whether it is actually an ingroup, or possibly a basal outgroup concerning the rest of Tephritis .

We therefore do not consider possible synonymy of Heringina , Tephritis , and Multireticula until more reliable evidences are obtained.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 12. Heringina guttata, 1. Habitus, ♂. 2. Wing. 3. Head in profile. 4. Mesonotum. 5. Ejaculatory apodeme. 6. Spermatheca. 7. Aculeus apex. 8. Aculeus. 9. Apex of oviscape and eversible membrane. 10. Glans of phallus, lateral. 11. Epandrium and hypandrium, lateral left view. 12. Epandrium, posterior view.

FIGURES 13 – 18. Heringina arezoana sp. nov., 13. Habitus, Holotype, ♂. 14. Mesonotum. 15. Wing. 16. Head in profile. 17. Male abdomen. 18. Female abdomen.

FIGURES 19 – 26. Heringina arezoana sp. nov., 19. Aculeus apex. 20. Aculeus. 21. Apex of oviscape and eversible membrane. 22. Epandrium, posterior view. 23. Epandrium and hypandrium, lateral right view. 24. Glans of phallus, lateral. 25. Spermatheca. 26. Ejaculatory apodeme.