| | Pest fruit flies of the world – larvae |
Dacus melanotus Coquillett, Dacus rarotongae Froggatt
Body length 7.5–9.5mm; slender, elongate, tapering anteriorly (?). Integument unsclerotized, entirely whitish to yellowish. Caudal ridge present. Mature larvae able to jump.
Head. Head of normal shape; cephalic lobes well developed. Antenna 2-segmented. Stomal organ: primary lobe small, round; number of peg sensilla a mixture of long tapering and short peg-like sensilla; peg sensilla unbranched; other peg-sensilla-like structures absent. Stomal region: secondary lobes present, short, leaf-like (5–6, large); margins of secondary lobes all entire; sclerotized stomal guards absent (?). Oral ridges present; number of oral ridges 11–15; margins scalloped (relatively short, stout, gently tapering teeth). Accessory plates present (elongate); number of accessory plates 9–14 (~~); margins serrated (with stout teeth). Elongate, finger-like lobes arising above mandibles absent. Median oral lobe absent or not protruding. Labium broad.
Cephalopharyngeal skeleton. Mandibles: subapical teeth absent; base elongate, forming a more oblique angle. Parastomal bars elongate, free from hypopharyngeal sclerite. Dental sclerites present, posterior to mandibles (?).
Spinules and creeping welts. Dorsal spinules on segments T1-T3.
Caudal segment (a8) and anal lobes. Sensilla on caudal segment 10 pairs, with at least 7 pairs visible under dissecting microscope (?). Ventral caudal sensilla absent or visible only with great difficulty, or obvious, but not on a papilla or tubercle (?). Anal lobes plainly visible, but not strongly protuberant (not at all prominent); simple.
Anterior spiracles. Anterior spiracle elevated, margin convex to straight. Anterior spiracular tubules 9–14; in a single uniform row, or in a single irregular row (?).
Posterior spiracles. Posterior spiracular area not distinctly set off from caudal segment. Posterior spiracles: slits 2–3x longer than wide (range estimated, LEC coded about 2.5). Dorsal spiracular processes with numerous trunks arising from an elongate base (long processes). Number of dorsal spiracular processes 18–24. Number of ventral spiracular processes 18–24. Number of lateral spiracular processes 8–12. Area between posterior spiracles smooth.
Host plants. Anacardiaceae, Myrtaceae, Rutaceae.
Part of plant attacked: fruit.
Biogeographic region. Australasian-Oceanian.
Specimens examined. Based on description by White and Elson-Harris (1992; Cook Islands. Sources of data and SEM numbers: 212SEM.
Illustrations. • Cephalopharyngeal skeleton (lateral).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘L.E. Carroll, A.L. Norrbom, M.J. Dallwitz, and F.C. Thompson. 2004 onwards. Pest fruit flies of the world – larvae. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
