Coenosia attenuata Stein in Becker, 1903

Parchami-Araghi, Mehrdad, Pont, Adrian C. & Gilasian, Ebrahim, 2020, The genus Coenosia Meigen in Iran, with a key to species and description of a new species (Diptera: Muscidae), Zootaxa 4877 (3), pp. 559-574 : 567-569

Coenosia attenuata Stein in Becker, 1903

( Figs 21 , 29–31 )

Material examined. Iran: Ardabil: 7♂♂, 5♀♀, Moghan, Pars-abad, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center , 71m, 39°36’54.92”N 47°48’51.87”E, 10.iii.2015 - 4.vi.2016, Malaise trap, N. Golmohamadzadeh-Khiaban ( HMIM) ; Kerman: 5♀♀, Zeh-kalout, Jazmourian Wetland, Chah-Alam , 387m, 27°44’43.2”N 58°34’37”E, 30.iv- 3.v.2017, Malaise trap, palm grove, M. Parchami-Araghi ( HMIM) ; Khuzestan: 18♂♂, 5♀♀, Shoush, Karkheh National Park , 32º4’45.6”N 48º14’27.8”E, 68m, 11.iii–10.v-2015, Malaise trap, E. Gilasian & M. Parchami-Araghi (17♂♂, 3♀♀ CNC, 1♂, 2♀♀ HMIM) ; 2♂♂, 12♀♀, same data except, 32º04’07”N 48º13’40.3”E, 63m, 29.vi– 4.vii.2013 ( CNC) ; Markazi: 3♂♂, Haftad-Qolleh Protected Area, Sibak valley , 34º5’38.7”N 50º14’22”E, 2088m, 18.iii–8.v.2018, Malaise trap, E. Gilasian & M. Parchami-Araghi ( CNC) ; Sistan-Baluchestan: 1♀, Chabahar, Tiss Natural Garden , 25º21’36.9”N 60º37’20”E, 6m, 31.iii.2019, Malaise trap, M. Parchami-Araghi ( CNC) ; 20♂♂, 15♀♀, Bahukalat village , 25º42’4.8”N 61º25’25.5”E, 23m, 13.ix.2016 – 17.iv.2017, Malaise trap, H. Mousavi ( CNC) ; 1♂, 1♀, Jazmourian Wetland, Jolgeh Chah-Hashem , 27º6’8.3”N 59º7’11.3”E, 388m, 28.iv-2.v.2017, Malaise trap, palm grove, M. Parchami-Araghi ( HMIM) ; 1♂, 7♀♀, Dalgan, Chah-Kamal , 27º29’20.7”N 59º28’15.2”E, 393m, 2-3.v.2017, Malaise trap, palm grove, M. Parchami-Araghi ( HMIM) ; West-Azerbaijan: 4♂♂, 4♀♀, Rashakan, Research Station for Lake Urmia National Park , 37º20’38.8”N 45º17’37.4”E, 1315m, 26.vi–8.vii.2016, Malaise trap, M. Parchami-Araghi ( CNC) ; 3♀♀, Lake Urmia National Park, Kaboudan Island , 37º29’42.4”N 45º38’13.9”E, 1322m, 20-23.vi.2016, yellow & white pan traps, M. Parchami-Araghi ( HMIM) .

Diagnosis. Coenosia attenuata is closely related to C. humilis from which the male is easily distinguished by its entirely yellow femora, antenna and palpus as well as distinctly elongated cercal plate ( Figs 30–31 ).

Distribution. Primarily an Old World species, C. attenuata is known to occur across the Palaearctic region and Middle East, including Iran ( Gregor et al. 2016, Parchami-Araghi et al. 2009, Deeming 2008, Pont 1991a, b, 1986). This species has expanded its distribution into the New World where it was first recorded from Ecuador and Peru ( Martínez-Sánchez et al. 2002) and later from the USA and Canada ( Hoebeke et al. 2003), Colombia ( Pérez-Trujillo 2006), Costa Rica ( Hernández-Ramírez 2008), Chile ( Couri & Salas 2010), Mexico ( Bautista-Martínez et al. 2017), Venezuela ( Solano-Rojas et al. 2017) and Brazil ( Couri et al. 2018).

Remarks. Coenosia attenuata is increasingly attracting attention worldwide as an effective biological control agent of major greenhouse pests such as whiteflies, leaf-miners, black fungus gnats and small fruit flies ( Couri et al. 2018; Pohl et al. 2012). It has been successfully reared on fungus gnats and drosophilids under laboratory conditions ( Zou et al. 2017, Martins et al. 2015).

Figures

FIGURES 20–25. Coenosia species, males, lateral view. 20. C. atra; 21. C. attenuata; 22. C. humilis; 23. C. testacea; 24. C. nigridigita; 25. C. tigrina.

FIGURES 26–34. Coenosia species, male sternite 5. and hypopygium, posterior and lateral views. 26–28. C. atra; 29–31. C. attenuata; 32–34. C. humilis.