Atherigona (Atherigona) reversura Villeneuve, 1936

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, The Muscidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, descriptions of two new species, new records and updated list of species, Zootaxa 4869 (1), pp. 1-54 : 27

Atherigona (Atherigona) reversura Villeneuve, 1936 ( Fig. 37 )xxx

Atherigona reversura Villeneuve, 1936: 13 .

Specimen examined. 1m, Asir, Maraba, Al-Hudaithy fruit farm, 1-30.v.2004, Malaise trap, H . A .Dawah. (CERS).

Distribution. This species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Dawah & Abdullah (2009). It was described from China. In the Middle East it is known from Oman and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ( Deeming 2008; El-Hawagry et al. 2016; 2017).

Biological remarks. A. reversura is a serious pest which can cause severe damage to plants. Although the larvae of A. reversura known as Bermudagrass breeds mainly in Bermudagrass ( Cynodon dactylon (L.) which is regarded as invasive pest species in USA ( Grzywacz et al. 2013; Patitucci et al. 2016), other Poaceae host plants have been listed by Pont & Magpayo (1995) such as Echinochloa colona (L.) Link, Eleusine coracana Gaertn , Eriochloa procera (Retz.) , Sehima nervosum (Rottler) , Sorghum bicolor and Zea mays L. Grzywacz et al. (2013) described the immature stages of A. reversura but the life cycle and the biology has yet to be researched. Since its initial introduction to the U.S.A. it has in a very short time increased its distribution from Canada to Chile and Argentina.

Figures

FIGURE. 37–41. Muscidae species habitus: 37) Atherigona (Atherigona) reversura Villeneuve, 1936, Male; 38) Atherigona (Atherigona) soccata Rondani, 1871, Male; 39) Atherigona (Atherigona) theodori Hennig, Female; 40) Atherigona (Atherigona) varia (Meigen, 1826), Male; 41) Atherigona (Acritochaeta) afrotropicalis Deeming sp.n., Male.