Anatrichus pygmaeus LAMB, 1918

Nartshuk, E., 2010, Grassflies Of The Tribe Elachipterini (Diptera: Chloropidae) From Vietnam And Thailand, With Description Of A New Species, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 56 (3), pp. 265-272 : 266-268

Anatrichus pygmaeus LAMB, 1918

LAMB, 1918: 348, type locality Peradeniya, Ceylon ( Sri Lanka), as var. of A. erinaceus LOEW. BECKER 1911: 116 – Taiwan, as A. erinaceus . BECKER & DE MEIJERE 1913: 302 – Java, as A. erinaceus . FREY 1923: 101 – Philippine (Luzon), as A. erinaceus . BECKER 1924: 124 – Taiwan, as A. erinaceus . MALLOCH 1927: 581 – India, from Panicum stagninum . DUDA 1930: 280, 298 – Taiwan, Sri Lanka, as A. erinaceus . DUDA 1934: 84 – Sumatra, as A. erinaceus . NISHIJIMA 1955: 52 – Taiwan, Japan (Amami Oshima). NARTSHUK 1962: 674 – China (Kwangtung), as A. erinaceus . SABROSKY 1962: 560 – Oriental Region. YASUTATSU 1967: 37 – South-Eastern Asia. NARTSHUK 1972: 341 – eastern Afghanistan. SABROSKY 1977: 278 – many countries in South-Eastern Asia, including Thailand. KANMIYA 1983: 79 – Japan (drawings of male genitalia). NARTSHUK 1991: 83 – Vietnam. YANG & YANG 1995: 541 – China (Baishanzu Mountains). YANG & YANG 1998: 562 – China, as A. erinaceus .

Synonyms: Echinia bisigmenta PARAMONOV, 1961: 98 – Australia. erinaceus : authors, not LOEW, 1860.

Material examined: Vietnam: Hanoi, Tyliem, 7, 15.03., and 4.04.1979, ex larvae of Chilodea auricola and Chilo suppressilis (Kuang Kon) , 3 f, two with puparia (see below); Hanoi, 30.10.–4.11. (GOROKHOV), 1 f; Hanoi, on grasses, 31.12.1988, 13.02.1989 (SUGONJAEV), 1 m, 1 f; Hanoi, on rice field, 30.06, 15.07.1993 (SUGONJAEV), 7 m, 3 f; 30 km SE Hanoi, basin of Read River, 30.12.1988 (SUGONJAEV, KOROTJAEV), 4 m, 8 f; prov. Shonla, viz. Shomrma, 440–600 m, 3– 14.05.1986 (GOROKHOV), 1 m, 2 f; Tkhankhoi, basin of River Ma, 27– 30.01.1989 (SUGONJAEV), 3 m, 2 f; 125 km W Tkhankhoi, basin of River Ma, 27.01.1989 (SUGONJAEV), 2 m. Thailand: T317 Loei, Phu Ruea NP, office, 17°28.826’N 101°21.330’E, 860 m, 19.vii.2006 – 26.vii.2006, Malaise trap, Nukoonchai Jaroenchai, 1 f. T440 Chaiyaphum, Pa Hin Ngam NP, Ecotone between mix deciduous/dry dipterocarp, 15°38.100’N 101°23.857’E, 700 m, 5.viii.2006 – 11.viii.2006, Malaise trap, Katae Sa-nog & Buakaw Adnafai, 1 m. T1040 Chaiyaphum, Pa Hin Ngam NP, Ecotone between mixed deciduous and dry dipterocarp forest, 15°34.913’N 101°25.658’E, 444 m, 28.xi. 2006 – 4.xii.2006, Malaise trap, Katae Sa-nog & Buakaw Adnafai, 1 f.

Additional examined material: Taiwan: Ako , 11.07.1906 (MATSUMURA), 1 f (specimen was received from Y. NISHIJIMA). Afghanistan: prov Nengrahar, Kama, 40 km N Jalalabad, 580 m , 24.03.1966 ( POVOLNY, TENORA), 1 m.

Distribution. The species is recorded in Australia and widely distributed in the Oriental Region: eastern Afghanistan, Japan, China (Kwantung), Taiwan, Burma, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan.

Biology. The species was reared from shoots of grasses Echinochloa (as Panicum ) stagnina in Southern India and young rice plants in the Philippines and pharyngeal skeleton

India. It has been reported as predator of Ripersia oryzae GREEN on paddy in India, of the larvae of the rice borer Schoenobius incertulas (WALKER) on Taiwan and parasitic on “Kody fly” in India (SABROSKY 1962). A part of specimens from Vietnam were reared from caterpillars of stem borer Lepidoptera : Chilo polychrysus (MEY- RICK), Ch. suppressalis (WALKER) and Chilodea sp. Some authors considered the species as predator ( WONGSIRI et al. 1974), but SABROSKY (1962) believed larvae of A. pygmaeus are scavengers and feed on dead caterpillars of stem borers.

Description of puparium ( Figs 1–5 ). Larva and puparium of the species have been described formerly. I have two puparia from Vietnam. Puparium brownish, 2.3 mm long with two stigmophores on posterior end. Anterior stigma fan-type with 6 processes. Stigmophores large divergent. Posterior stigma with 4 branched hairs. Anal opening transverse. Seven creeping areas covered with spicules of different size on ventral side of puparium and one anterior from small spicules only. Cephalopharyngeal skeleton: mandible black without additional teeth on ventral surface and with dentate sclerite; parastomal sclerite black, narrow with process on ventral side; pharyngeal sclerite clear; ventral wing longer and wider than dorsal one, with many ridges on ventral side.

Figures

Figs 1–5. Anatrichus pygmaeus LAMB, puparium. 1 = habitus, ventral view, 2 = anterior end of puparium, ventral view, 3 = posterior part of puparium, ventral view, 4 = anterior stigma, 5 = cephalo-