Tephritidae flies associated with Chuquiraga avellanedae (Asteraceae) in Patagonia, Argentina

Abstract

In Patagonia, knowledge about the interaction among tephritids and the native fl ora is very scarce. In this study we identifi ed for the fi rst time two tephritid species (Cecidochares sp. and Neosphaeniscus m-nigrum) associated with the capitula of Chuquiraga avellanedae. This is the fi rst record of a host plant for the genus Neosphaeniscus. Cecidochares sp. was more abundant and had a shorter development time than N. m-nigrum. Also, two families of parasitoid wasps (Pteromalidae and Eurytomidae) were registered. Further studies are needed to understand the impact of these tephritids on C. avellanedae fi tness and their potential to control its populations.

Checklist of the dipterofauna (Insecta) from Roraima, Brazil, with special reference to the Brazilian Ecological Station of Maracá

“…4N). The family currently comprises 4,963 species described in approximately 500 genera (Norrbom et al, 1999;Norrbom, 2010;Savaris et al, 2016;Brown et al, 2018;Borkent et al, 2018;Martinez et al, 2020), allocated in six subfamilies: Tachiniscinae, Blepharoneurinae, Phytalmiinae, Trypetinae, Dacinae, and Tephritinae (Korneyev, 1999;Norrbom, 2010). Also known as fruit flies, tephritids are distributed in all biogeographic regions, except in desert and polar areas, where their hosts are scarce or absent (Foote et al, 1993;Thompson, 1999).…”