Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2024 | 16(6): 25465–25469

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9036.16.6.25465-25469

#9036 | Received 19 March 2024 | Final received 06 May 2024 | Finally accepted 14 June 2024

 

 

Lasioptera sharma, a new species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) feeding on Leea indica (Vitaceae) in India

 

Duraikannu Vasanthakumar 1, Rajiv Loganathan 2  & Palanisamy Senthilkumar 3

 

1 Western Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Akurdi, Pune, Maharashtra 411044, India.

2,3 Department of Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Katankulathur, Tamil Nadu 603203, India.

1 duraivasanthakumar@gmail.com, 2 rajiv.lo2413@gmail.com, 3 mpsenthilkumar@gmail.com (corresponding author)

 

 

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:253F2E28-4D2A-4778-A7A0-A9CB38A039BE

 

Editor: Radheshyam M. Sharma Pune, Maharashtra, India.            Date of publication: 26 June 2024 (online & print)

 

Citation: Vasanthakumar, D., R. Loganathan & P. Senthilkumar (2024). Lasioptera sharma, a new species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) feeding on Leea indica (Vitaceae) in India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(6): 25465–25469. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9036.16.6.25465-25469

   

Copyright: © Vasanthakumar et al. 2024. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: The work is based on the annual research programme of the Zoological Survey of India, WRC, Pune

                 (Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Govt. of India).

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The first author is grateful to the director of ZSI, Kolkata, and the officer-in-charge, WRC, ZSI, Pune for facilities and Dr. Peter Kolesik for his comments on the early draft of the manuscript.

 

 

Abstract: A new species of gall midge associated with the leaves of Leea indica (Burm.fil.) Merr. (Vitaceae) is described and illustrated. Two species of Lasioptera have been reported from the plant genus Leea so far and the present species is the third one, known to cause galls on the leaves of Leea indica. The type specimens are deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune, India.

 

Keywords: Bandicoot Berry, Gall midge, Lasioptera, leaf galls, Mollem, Western Ghats.

 

 

 

The genus Lasioptera includes more than 120 species until now, belonging to Lasiopterini, and Lasiopteridi (Gagné & Jaschhof 2021). Up to now, two species of gall midges have been reported from Leea species: Lasioptera manilensis Felt 1918 (Host plant: Leea manillensis) from the Philippines and Asphondylia leeae Felt, 1921 (Host plant: Leea indica) from Indonesia (Felt 1918, 1921; Kolesik & Gagné 2020). From India, leaf galls on Leea indica  were first reported by Mani (1959) from southern parts of Western Ghats of India but the causative organism was not known. The species was likely not described because adults could not be collected from these galls. Subsequently, Sharma (2003) reared a few adult female gall midges from the leaf galls of L. indica and identified them as Lasioptera sp. The species was not described due to the lack of available male specimens.

The present attempt to rear adult gall midges from the leaf galls of L. indica collected from Mollem, Goa yielded several adult male and female specimens of Lasioptera sp. The specimens were processed and mounted in Canada balsam as per the method described by Kolesik et al. (2015). Holotypes and paratypes were carefully prepared and subsequently deposited in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India, WRC, Pune. In this paper, we formally describe it as a new species Lasioptera sharma and its affinities are discussed.

 

Lasioptera Meigen 1818.

Type species, Lasioptera picta Meigen (subs. des. Karsch 1877: 14; validated ICZN 1970: 75) = rubi Schrank. Refer to Gagné & Jaschhof (2021) for the detailed synonymic list of Lasioptera.

The members of the genus Lasioptera can be distinguished by several apomorphic features: antennae typically possessing more than 12 antennal flagellomeres; the male 7th tergite greatly reduced in size compared to 6th tergite and the gonostylus with a strong apical claw. In females, the 8th tergite is usually longitudinally divided into two discrete sclerites; fused cerci are cylindrical, with a glabrous dorsal, saddle-shaped area, usually with prominent hooked setae, and the remainder microtrichose with scattered setae (Yukawa et al. 2019 & Gagné 2018).

 

Lasioptera sharma Vasanthakumar sp. nov.

(Figure 1–6; Image 1–7)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:084FE827-2F0E-4347-AB1C-E6F27FBC9EF0

 

Material examined

Holotype: Ent 10/269 (on slide), 10.vii.2021, male, Mollem (15.3777°N; 74.23059°E), Goa, India, collected as gall by P.S. Bhatnagar & party, ZSI WRC, Pune.

Paratypes: 3 males (Ent 10/270), 5 females (Ent 10/271), 4 pupa (Ent 10/272), 4 pupal exuviae (Ent 10/273), 4 larva (Ent 10/274) same data as holotype.

Description: Head: Eyes connate, 4–5 facets long at the vertex, facets circular, closely adjacent. Frontoclypeal setae 30-–36 in number. Palpus 3-segmented, segments successively longer, first palpal segment 21 μm, second 33–35 μm, third 36–39 μm (Figure 1). Antenna: scape, pedicel globose, densely covered with scales; flagellomeres 12–15 in male (n = 4), 17–19 in female (n = 5); first two flagellomeres partially fused, node of third flagellomere about 33–35μm, 1.2 times as long as wide (Figure 2), remaining flagellomeres except for apical rectangular, wider than long.

Thorax: Wing: length in males, 1.5 mm (n = 4); in females, 1.7 mm (n = 5) 2.2–2.4 as long as wide (Figure 3). Legs covered by dark brown scales. Tarsal claws toothed; teeth curved near the base. Empodia as long as claws (Figure 3).

Male abdomen: Tergites 1–6 rectangular with two trichoid sensilla anteriorly and row of setae posteriorly; Sclerotization of tergite 7–8 reduced to narrow band, with two anterior trichoid sensilla and no posterior setae; Sternites 2–7 quadrate with anterior pair of closely adjacent trichoid sensilla, row of strong setae posteriorly and few strong setae mesally; sclerotization of sternite 8 greatly reduced anteriorly, without anterior trichoid sensilla, with numerous strong setae mesally and posteriorly. Terminalia: gonocoxite with numerous strong setae evenly distributed ventrally, posterior two-thirds dorsally; gonostylus broadened basally, tapering apically, with scattered setae, microtrichose only basally, well- developed tooth apically; mediobasal lobe sheathing aedeagus, slightly shorter than aedeagus; cerci separated by a deep notch; hypoproct entire, shorter than aedeagus; aedeagus rounded apically, longer than cerci (Figure 5).

Female Abdomen: Tergites 1–7 as of male, tergite 8 divided into two longitudinal sclerites, each widened posteriorly with one anterior trichoid sensilla at mid -length and a few setae posteriorly. Sternites 2–7 as of male, sternite 8 not apparent. ovipositor with a laterodistal group of 42–46 curved setae; cercus with 06 large, hooked setae on dorsal saddle-shaped area and straight setae posteriorly (Image 7). 

Larva (Image 2): white, with dark brown spatula; Length 1.4–1.6 mm. Antenna is about twice as long as wide. Cephalic apodemes are about twice as long as a head capsule. Spatula with a long shaft and two pointed anterior teeth separated by v-shaped notch (Figure 4). On each side of the spatula one sternal papilla and four lateral papillae, all asetose. Terminal segment with six papillae (Figure 6).

Pupa (Image 6): Orange when young, brown when mature. Length 1.6–1.9 mm. Antennal bases developed into two distinct triangular serrated horns (Image 5). cephalic setae 50–55 μm long; prothoracic spiracle elongate, curved, 87–90 μm long. Abdomen uniformly covered with tiny spicules.

Gall: Leaf gall (Image 1), sub-cylindrical or sub-globose, nearly equally developed on both sides of the leaf blade, though often the hypophyllous part is somewhat larger and narrower than the epiphyllous, yellowish- green or brown, glabrous, solid, hard, indehiscent; larval chambers 4 per gall (Image 1a); more than 10 galls per leaf; exit hole, epi or hypophyllous (Image 4); size 10–14 mm long and 5 mm thick (Mani 2000).

Etymology: The species is named in the honour of Dr. Radheshyam Muralidhar Sharma, an eminent Indian Cecidologist. The specific epithet is used here as a noun in apposition.

Host plant: Leea indica (Burm.fil.) Merr. (Vitaceae) commonly known as Bandicoot Berry, is an evergreen perennial shrub distributed in India, Sri Lanka, throughout South Asia, to northern Australia, Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, and Fiji. This plant has numerous medicinal properties and used for treating various diseases (Chatterjee & Prakashi 2003).

Distribution: India: Maharashtra, Pune district, Tamhini (18.47380N; 73.4180E); Goa: South Goa district, Mollem National Park (15.37770N; 74.230590E).

Remarks: Lasioptera sharma sp. nov. differs from all other Indian species in having the following characteristics. Palpus 3-segmented, third female flagellomeres 1.2 times as long as wide, empodia longer than bend in claws, female cercus with 06 large hooked setae on dorsal  saddle-shaped area, gonostylus broadened basally, tapering apically, the proportion of aedeagus, cerci, and hypoproct.

The present species is closely related to L. manilensis Felt 1918. However L. manilensis can be distinguished from Lasioptera sharma sp. nov., by the structure of the ovipositor, the number of hooked spines the absence of apically broadened setae on the cerci, and the proportion of third female flagellomere. Also, the galls produced by L. manilensis contain only one chamber whereas the galls produced by L. sharma contain 4 chambers. We could not compare this species with the adult male and immature stages of L. manilensis as the latter has been described only based on the adult female. 

Lasioptera sharma sp. nov. is the first report of a Lasioptera species from the family Rutaceae from India. Kolesik & Gagné (2020) have mentioned in the monograph that the species of Lasioptera manilensis Felt, 1918 causing leaf galls on Leea manillensis Walp. (Rutaceae) from Philipines. A similar type of gall is also reported from Leea indica but no adults have been described from it (Kolesik & Gagné 2020).

 

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References

 

Chatterjee, A. & S. Prakashi (2003). The  Treatise of Indian  Medicinal  Plants. National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resource (NISCAIR), New Delhi, India, pp. 110 –112.

Felt, E.P. (1918). New Philippine gall midges, with a key to the Itonididae. The Philippine Journal of Science 13: 281–325.

Felt, E.P. (1921). Javanese gall midges. Treubia 1: 139 –151.

Gagné, R.J. (2018). Key to adults of North American genera of subfamily Cecidomyiinae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). Zootaxa 4392: 401– 457.

Gagné, R.J. & M. Jaschhof (2021). A Catalog of the Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) of the World,  5th Edition. Digital. Systematic Entomology Laboratory, U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C., 816 pp.

Kolesik, P. & R.J. Gagné (2020). A review of the gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of Indonesia: taxonomy, biology and adult key to genera. Zootaxa 4847: 1– 82.

Kolesik, P., A.G. Manners & K. Hill (2015). A new species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) feeding on ornamental Cordyline fruticosa (Asparagaceae) in Australia. Australian Journal of Entomology 54: 259 –264.

Mani, M.S. (1959). Cecidotheca indica. Agra University Journal of Research (Science) 8(2): 125.

Mani, M.S. (2000). Plant Galls of India. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., 477 pp.

Sharma, R.M. (2003). New records of lasiopterine midge galls (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae: Cecidomyiinae: Lasiopteridi) from Maharashtra. Zoos Print Journal 18(1): 993. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.ZPJ.18.1.993

Yukawa, J., K.M. Harris & W. Kim (2019). Descriptions of two new species of the genus Lasioptera (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) that infest tomato in the Mediterranean Region and Hokkaido, Japan. Applied Entomology and Zoology 55: 129–140.