Procontarinia pustulata, a new gall midge species (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) feeding on mango, Mangifera indica (Anarcadiaceae), in northern Australia and Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Procontarinia pustulata sp. n. is described from northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. Larvae feed on mango Mangifera indica causing blister-like galls on leaves. The new species pupates in the soil. The genus Procontarinia Kieffer & Cecconi contains 15 named and several unnamed species, all of which feed on mango, with several being pests of cultivated mango worldwide. Procontarinia pustulata sp. n. differs from its congeners in morphology and gall anatomy as well as DNA sequence of COI. A simple technique is presented for rearing soil-pupating gall midges in tropical region.

A new gall midge of the genusDentifibula(Diptera:Cecidomyiidae), a predator of the scale insectAulacaspis australisfeeding on mangroveBruguiera gymnorrhiza

“…Their small size made it difficult to handle so we omitted the usual maceration and clearing procedure (Kolesik et al . ) and transferred whole insects from ethanol into Histoclear and then directly into a droplet of Canada balsam on a slide, where they were dissected into separate parts. Each part was then transferred into separate Canada balsam droplets on the same slide and covered with round glass cover slips 10 mm in diameter.…”

Description of the immature stages and gall morphology, and molecular characterisation ofProcontarinia robusta, a gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) damaging leaves of mangoMangifera indica L. (Anarcadiaceae) in southern Asia

“…7 left). Empty galls remain attached to the leaf, which is similar to galls of P. pustulata (Kolesik et al 2009) but unlike galls of P. mangicola that leave behind a necrosis-rimmed circular hole (Uechi et al 2002).…”

“…The anterior end of larval spatula has two large lobes in P. frugivora Gagné (Gagné & Medina 2004), P. mangicola (Shi) (Shi 1980;Harris & Schreiner 1992), P. mangiferae (Felt) (Felt 1911) and P. mangifoliae (Grover) (Grover 1965), two large central lobes and a small outer lobe on either side in P. pustulata Kolesik (Kolesik et al 2009) and a large single lobe in P. tenuispatha Kieffer (Kieffer 1909). The spatula of P. robusta differs from those of other congeners by having a large central anterior lobe accompanied by a small lobe on either side.…”

“…Adults were reared from infested leaves by wrapping petioles in wet cotton balls to prevent wilting and placing entire leaves in plastic bags. A series of full-grown larvae, pupae and emerged adults were mounted in Canada balsam according to methods described by Kolesik et al (2009). These specimens are deposited in the South Australian Museum, Adelaide (SAMA).…”

Test of the pathogenicity of two commercial Beauveria strains on third-instar larvae of the mango blossom gall midge,Procontarinia mangiferae(Felt) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

“…Procontarinia mangiferae (Felt) is one of the species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) that attack mango trees (Mangifera indica L.) [1]. This midge is considered to be indigenous to India and invasive in Thailand, Mauritius, Reunion Island, Iran, the West Indies and Brazil [2,3]; it causes economic damage in many countries [4,5].…”