Ceratitis (Ceratalaspis) oraria, Meyer & Copeland, 2005

Meyer, Marc De & Copeland, Robert S., 2005, Description of new Ceratitis MacLeay (Diptera, Tephritidae) species from Africa, Journal of Natural History 39 (16), pp. 1283-1297 : 1284-1289

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930400004347

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/4424D512-B91E-3443-FE63-410BF5DFFBB9

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Ceratitis (Ceratalaspis) oraria
status

sp. nov.

Ceratitis (Ceratalaspis) oraria View in CoL sp. nov.

( Figures 1 View Figures 1–5 , 7 View Figures 7–11 , 12 View Figures 12–17 )

Diagnosis

Arista with short to medium long rays; frons yellow to yellow-orange, without silvery microtrichosity; postpronotal lobe with distinct black spot; scutal pattern with distinct black spots; anepisternum yellow with upper margin white, with one anepisternal seta; wing bands with subapical band separate, posterior apical band absent; legs without feathering; abdomen without distinct spots, with grey band on tergites 2 and 4; aculeus tip slightly bilobed.

Description

Female. Head: antenna yellow to yellow-orange. First flagellomere three times as long as pedicel. Arista with short to medium long rays at most twice as long as basal width of arista; ventral rays shorter than dorsal rays basally. Frons yellow to yellow-orange; with short scattered black setulae. Face white, lower half and below lower eye margin more yellow. Genal seta and setulae orange to red, well developed.

Thorax: postpronotal lobe pale yellowish white; with black spot. Scutum ( Figure 1 View Figures 1–5 ), ground colour yellow-orange, with distinct black markings including median presutural and sutural spots; prescutellar markings yellowish white, merged; with silver microtrichosity and yellow pilosity. Scapular setae yellow. Scutellum white to yellow, basally with small black spots, apically with three separate black spots, extending to basal third. Subscutellum yellow with three separate black spots, sometimes black spots touching along dorsal margin. Anepisternum yellow, upper margin white with black patch; one black anepisternal seta, setulae pale.

Legs: yellow; setation yellow to orange except last tarsal segments black. Fore femur with ventral setae orange.

Wing: pattern as in Figure 7 View Figures 7–11 ; bands mainly yellowish with some brown patches. Anterior apical and discal bands not separated; subapical band free; posterior apical band absent; crossvein R-M at, or just proximal to, middle of discal medial cell.

Abdomen: yellow to orange; pilosity mixed yellow and black. Tergites 2 and 4 with pale grey band occupying posterior third of tergite. Tergite 5 with longer black setulae along posterior margin. Oviscape about as long as preabdomen. Aculeus 10 times longer than wide, tip ( Figure 12 View Figures 12–17 ) slightly bilobed and lateral margin slightly sinuate.

Male. As female except for the following characters. Arista with medium long rays, longest dorsal rays about three times as long as basal width of arista. Face completely white. Fore femur posteriorly with longer and somewhat denser pilosity.

Body length. 4.94 (4.30–5.50) mm.

Wing length. 4.67 (4.35–5.00) mm.

Type material

Holotype: ♀, Kenya, Coast Province , Arabuko Sokoke Forest, 3 January 2001, USDA sample 942, reared ex fruits Salacia leptoclada , leg. R. S. Copeland . Holotype deposited at National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi ( NMK) . Paratypes: 9 „„, 15 ♀♀, same data as holotype ; 3 „„, 1♀, same locality as holotype , 9 January 2000, USAID sample K338, reared ex fruits Salacia leptoclada ; 2 „„ , 1♀, same locality as holotype , 7 September 2000, USAID sample K754 reared ex fruits Salacia leptoclada , 1 „, 1♀, same locality as holotype , 29 November 2000, USAID sample K789 reared ex fruits Salacia leptoclada , all leg R. S. Copeland . Paratypes deposited at NMK, the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren ,

Belgium ( KMMA), the Natural History Museum, London , UK ( BMNH), the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology, Nairobi , Kenya ( ICIPE), Texas A&M University, Texas , USA ( TAMU) and the Natural History Museum, Washington DC , USA ( USNM) .

Etymology

After the Latin ‘‘orarius’’, meaning coastal dweller, and referring to the type locality Arabuko Sokoke Forest which is the largest remnant of coastal forest in Kenya .

Host plant

Reared from the fruits of Salacia leptoclada Tul. (Hippocrateaceae) .

Remarks

This species is very similar to C. stictica Bezzi and keys out as such in De Meyer (1998). The following characteristics can be used to differentiate both species. Arista with medium long rays in C. oraria , at most three times basal width; distinctly plumose in C. stictica with longest rays at least five times as long as width. Presutural median spot less developed in C. oraria . Basal scutellar spots small, reduced in C. oraria . Also abdominal pilosity largely yellow in stictica while mixed in oraria , and grey band on tergite 4 more distinct in oraria . C. stictica often with variable wing pattern, with subapical band joined with discal band. This is not the case in C. oraria which has the typical Ceratitis pattern with subapical band separate from discal band. The species can be identified with the key provided by De Meyer (1998) given the following adjustment.

40 Mesonotum with median presutural spot linear........ lunata – Mesonotum with median presutural spot rounded or arrowhead shaped.. 41

41 Arista distinctly plumose, longest rays at least five times as long as basal width of arista and equal to width of first flagellomere; female aculeus simply pointed.................... stictica

– Arista with medium long rays, longest rays at most three times as long as basal width of arista and half the width of first flagellomere; female aculeus with tip bilobed................... oraria sp. n.

Confirmed records for C. stictica so far are all from Central Africa, as well as Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria and Kakamega forest (the easternmost relict of Guineo-Congolian rain forest, situated in the extreme west of Kenya, close to the border with Uganda). C. oraria is a coastal species, known from a plant host whose distribution is also restricted to the coastal region in Kenya. The only specimens of C. stictica from Kenya, on the other hand (Kakamega forest, vide supra), were reared from fruits of Craterispermum schweinfurthii Hiern. (Rubiaceae) , a plant that is restricted in Kenya to Kakamega forest.

USDA

United States Department of Agriculture

R

Departamento de Geologia, Universidad de Chile

NMK

National Museums of Kenya

KMMA

Koninklijk Museum voor Midden Afrika

TAMU

Texas A&M University

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Tephritidae

Genus

Ceratitis

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