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A key, an annotated checklist with detailed distribution, biological and host information, and color photographic plates are provided for the 91 species of dacine fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini) known to occur in Oceania. Dacus virgatus Coquillett, previously a synonym of Bactrocera psidii (Froggatt), is instead considered a junior synonym of B. facialis (Coquillett). The species originally described in 1971 as Dacus (Asiadacus) perpusillus Drew, later reassigned as Bactrocera (Sinodacus) perpusilla (Drew) and in recent years as Zeugodacus (Sinodacus) perpusillus (Drew) actually belongs to genus Dacus, and is transferred back to Dacus, but to the subgenus Neodacus, restored combination. The presence of B. redunca (Drew) is recorded for the first time in New Caledonia. New male lure records include isoeugenol and dihydroeugenol for both B. neoxanthodes Drew and Romig and B. quadrisetosa (Bezzi) and zingerone for Dacus taui (Drew and Romig), all in Vanuatu.
ZooBank registration. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A105F057-F2A4-4C14-B82E-14912B319D57
A key, an annotated checklist with detailed distribution, biological and host information, and color photographic plates are provided for the 91 species of dacine fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini) known to occur in Oceania. Dacus virgatus Coquillett, previously a synonym of Bactrocera psidii (Froggatt), is instead considered a junior synonym of B. facialis (Coquillett). The species originally described in 1971 as Dacus (Asiadacus) perpusillus Drew, later reassigned as Bactrocera (Sinodacus) perpusilla (Drew) and in recent years as Zeugodacus (Sinodacus) perpusillus (Drew) actually belongs to genus Dacus, and is transferred back to Dacus, but to the subgenus Neodacus, restored combination. The presence of B. redunca (Drew) is recorded for the first time in New Caledonia. New male lure records include isoeugenol and dihydroeugenol for both B. neoxanthodes Drew and Romig and B. quadrisetosa (Bezzi) and zingerone for Dacus taui (Drew and Romig), all in Vanuatu.
ZooBank registration. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A105F057-F2A4-4C14-B82E-14912B319D57
The tortoise beetle, Cassida sphaerula Boheman, 1854 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Cassidini) is endemic to South Africa. Its endemic host, Arctotheca prostrata (Salisb.) Britten (Asteraceae) has been introduced in other countries where it is becoming invasive. Cassida sphaerula could provide a potential biocontrol of Arctotheca weeds as it spends the entire life cycle on this host. An intensive field study, with rearing, photography, and short films of C. sphaerula was conducted in its native habitat to document the life cycle. A checklist of Cassidinae genera in South Africa, along with 19 new host records for Cassidini species in South Africa are presented. Oothecae are simple, with few laminate membranes enclosing fewer than five eggs. There are five larval instars. Larvae and adults feed by making a series of cuts in the ventral cuticle, forming an arc, and they consume the mesophyll as the cuticle is rolled to one side. This creates many ventral craters, thickened on one margin with the rolled cuticle; these ventral craters correspond to ‘windows’ in the dorsal leaf surface where the dorsal cuticle is left intact. This unusual feeding pattern is known in three Cassida species, all in South Africa. Like many tortoise beetles, instar I initiates a feces-only shield on its paired caudal processes (= urogomophi); this construction is retained, along with exuviae, by subsequent instars. The shield construction was studied by film and dissections. This revealed that the columnar or pyramidal shield in this species has an exterior of dry or moist feces that obscures the central nested stack of exuviae, each exuviae compressed onto the caudal processes. Pupae may retain the entire larval shield of exuviae and feces or only the 5th instar exuviae; this behavioral flexibility in pupal shield retention is novel for tortoise beetles. Behaviors of C. sphaerula are discussed in the context of phylogenetic characters that can give evolutionary insights into the genus, tribe, and subfamily.
ZooBank registration. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4AC56F98-6474-4AAD-A2A9-51AE2F39A1E1