Assembly of a Phragmites - associated Chloropidae (Diptera) fauna in North America: the Palearctic genus Cryptonevra Lioy in the Nearctic, and the genus Lipara Meigen in Canada
Author
Barrie, Christine L.
Author
Wheeler, Terry A.
text
Zootaxa
2015
4012
1
198
200
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4012.1.12
a5a09b8e-5094-418e-9761-25b360b2251e
1175-5326
241047
FBB8070A-CEA2-4FBF-B122-9AEA9306C73A
Cryptonevra diadema
(Meigen)
One female specimen of
Cryptonevra
was collected in
2011 in
an old field habitat in a suburban park (
CANADA
: Quebec: Pointe-Claire, Terra Cotta Natural Park, 45.4516° -73.8103°,
30.vi–07.vii.2011
, C. Barrie, yellow pan, old field). Subsequent focused collecting with a sweep net in 2013 near a stand of
P. australis
at the same site yielded 14 more specimens (Pointe-Claire, Terra Cotta Natural Park, 45.4514°, -73.8099°,
11.vii.2013
, C. Barrie, sweep, old field,
3 ♂
, 11 ♀). Two female specimens were DNA barcoded (658 bp of the mitochondrial CO
1
gene) at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (University of Guelph, ON,
Canada
) (BOLD SampleID: CCDB-21329-B04, CCDB-21329-B05; boldsystems.org). All specimens collected in this study are deposited in the Lyman Entomological Museum, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC,
Canada
(LEM).
The specimens were identified as
Cryptonevra diadema
(Meigen)
(
Fig. 1
) based on keys and illustrations in
Ismay (1994)
and
Grochowska (2007)
.
Cryptonevra diadema
is a widespread Palearctic species whose larvae are associated with
P. australis
, as inquilines in
Lipara
galls (
Ismay 1994
,
Grochowska 2007
). Like
Lipara
and some species of
Calamoncosis
,
Cryptonevra diadema
was likely introduced to North
America
accidentally.
Cryptonevra diadema
is one of the few Nearctic species of the chloropid subfamily
Chloropinae
with an entirely black thorax and abdomen. Most species of
Epichlorops
Becker
,
Cetema
Hendel
or
Thaumatomyia
Zenker
with a completely black scutum have at least some yellow on the scutellum or thoracic pleurites. In Sabrosky’s (1987) key to Nearctic chloropid genera,
C. diadema
keys to couplet 55 (
Cetema
and
Epichlorops
), although the scutum is not as distinctly tuberculate as in those two genera.
Cryptonevra diadema
can be accommodated in the Nearctic key to genera by the following modifications to couplet 54:
54. Scutum (except sometimes postpronotum and/or notopleuron) black, unstriped; scutal setulae arising from tubercles that are often star-shaped, or at least raised ............................................................................................................ 54a - Scutum usually with distinct black or reddish stripes; if uniformly black (rarely), then scutal setulae arising from fine, inconspicuous, piliferous punctures.................................................................................................................... 56 54a. Apex of first flagellomere angulate; frons black posteriorly, yellow at anterior margin, frontal triangle black, appearing shagreened in posterodorsal view; gena divided into microtomentose yellow upper portion and narrower, shining dark brown lower margin; scutal tubercles present but indistinct
................................................
Cryptonevra
Meigen - Apex of first flagellomere rounded; frons yellow, contrasting with shining black frontal triangle; gena microtomentose, yellow; scutal tubercles distinctly star-shaped ................................................................................................... 55
Although
C. diadema
is the first described species of
Cryptonevra
recorded in North
America
, an unidentified Palearctic species of
Cryptonevra
is undergoing testing for possible release in the southern
United States
as a potential biological control agent for another invasive grass, giant reed (
Arundo donax
L.,
Poaceae
) (
Dudley & Lambert 2007
,
Goolsby
et al.
2009
) and adventive populations of
Cryptonevra
that may be conspecific with that species have been found in coastal southern California (
Dudley & Lambert 2007
).