A review of taxonomy and flower-breeding ecology of the Colocasiomyia toshiokai species group (Diptera: Drosophilidae), with description of a new species from Indonesia

Abstract

Flies of the Colocasiomyia toshiokai species group depend exclusively on infl orescences/infructescences of the aroid tribe Homalomeneae. The taxonomy and reproductive biology of this group is reviewed on the basis of data and samples collected from Southeast Asia. The species boundaries are determined by combining morphological analyses and molecular species delimitation based on sequences of the mitochondrial COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) gene. For the phylogenetic classifi cation within this species group, a cladistic analysis of all the member species is conducted based on 29 parsimony-informative, morphological characters. As a result, six species are recognised within the toshiokai group, including one new species, viz. C. toshiokai, C. xanthogaster, C. nigricauda, C. erythrocephala, C. heterodonta and C. rostrata sp. n. Various host plants are utilised by these species in different combinations at different localities: Some host plants are monopolized by a single species, while others are shared by two or three species. C. xanthogaster and C. heterodonta cohabit on the same host plant in West Java, breeding on spatially different parts of the spadix. There is a close synchrony between fl ower-visiting behaviour of fl ies and fl owering events of host plants, which indicate an intimate pollination mutualism.

Plants Are the Drivers of Geographic Variation of Floral Scents in a Highly Specialized Pollination Mutualism: a Study of Ficus Hirta in China

“…This may facilitate year round survival of pollinators using sequentially different plant species owering at different periods (e.g. in Macaranga [23], in Araceae [22], in Ficus [24]), or survival of pollinators of plants that ower erratically across years (e.g. African cycads [25]).…”

“…Brood site pollination mutualisms are diversi ed as to the resource on which pollinator offspring feed. They may develop feeding on young seeds (Yucca [20], Phyllanthaceae [21]), galled plant ovules (Ficus [22]), pollen (Castilla [23]), decaying stamens (Cyclanthaceae [24]), decaying male in orescences or post anthesis male in orescence structures (Cycadales [25], Cyclanthaceae [24], Arecaceae [17]), fungi growing on male in orescences (Artocarpus [26]), or nectar produced by oral bracts (Macaranga [27]).…”

“…For instance, in most obligate brood site pollination mutualisms, owers are inconspicuous, with yuccas a notable exception, and chemical signalling by the plants constitutes the main cue used by pollinators to locate receptive owers [18]. The attractive odours may be emitted by receptive owers (Phyllanthaceae [19]), in orescences (Ficus [20], Cycadales [21], Araceae [22]), or even leaves (Chamaropsis [18]), providing a diversity of ontogenic and evolutionary origins of signalling. Despite the central role played by odours in these systems, little is known about micro and macro-evolutionary patterns and processes of oral odour evolution and few predictions about their evolution have been made.…”

Descriptions of two new species of the genus Colocasiomyia (Diptera, Drosophilidae) breeding on Rhaphidophora host plants in Yunnan, China

“…The genus Colocasiomyia de Meijere, 1914 is among a few well known anthophilic genera in the family Drosophilidae ( Brncic 1983 ; Grimaldi et al 2003 ; Fu et al 2016 ). Species in this genus (30 described and nearly 60 undescribed ones) are all discovered from tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, and taxonomically classified into six species groups: i.e., the C. crassipes group of two (2 described + 0 undescribed) species associated with hosts from the family Magnoliaceae , the C. zeylanica group of six (2 + 4) species associated with hosts from the family Arecaceae , three species groups [ C. toshiokai group of six (6 + 0) species, C. baechlii group of thirty (2 + 28) species, and C. cristata group of thirty three (11 + 22) species] associated with aroid hosts from the subfamily Aroideae , and the C. gigantea group of seven known species associated with aroid hosts from the subfamily Monsteroideae (e.g., Sultana et al 2006 ; Fartyal et al 2013 ; Li et al 2014 ; Shi et al 2019 ). The C. gigantea group was erected by Fartyal et al (2013) for three species: C. gigantea (Okada) using Epipremnum pinnatum in Java, Indonesia and Solomon Is., C. rhaphidophorae Gao & Toda using Rhaphidophora hookeri in Yunnan, southwestern China, and C. scindapsae Fartyal & Toda using Scindapsus coriaceus in Sabah, Malaysia.…”

Cinco especies nuevas de Drosophila (Diptera, Drosophilidae) relacionadas con Araceae

“…En el trópico asiático, las inflorescencias de las aráceas Alocasia, Colocasia y Homalomena son sitios de reproducción específicos de moscas del género Colocasiomyia (Diptera, Drosophilidae) (Carson & Okada, 1980;Shi et al, 2019). Por otro lado, en América Central se registró la relación entre algunas aráceas como Xanthosoma robustum y Drosophila aracea (Heed & Wheeler, 1957;Tsacas & Chassagnard, 1992), así como Monstera lentii y Drosophila monsterae (Vilela & Prieto, 2018).…”