Tephritis praecox

Tephritis praecox
Tephritis praecox
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Tephritidae
Subfamily:	Tephritinae
Tribe:	Tephritini
Genus:	Tephritis
Species:	T. praecox
Binomial name
Tephritis praecox (Loew, 1844) [1]
Synonyms
Trypeta praecox Loew, 1844 [1] Tephritis poecilura Loew, 1869 [2]

Tephritis praecox is a species is a species of fly in the family Tephritidae found across Europe. ^[3]

Description

The adult fly is grey-brown in colour with a wing length measuring between 1.8–3.2 mm. The wings are hyaline and distinctively marked between different species of this genus. ^[4]

Biology

T. praecox is associated with several host plants including Calendula arvensis , Chrysanthemum sp., Filago gallica , and Senecio . When mating, male flies wait near the capitulum of their chosen flower bud. When a female appears they begin a mating dance during which the male holds his wings flat and then opens them alternately. ^[4] The larvae develops in the seed head.

Distribution

T. praecox can be found across central and western Europe. ^[5] It was first noted from Britain in 1937 on the basis of a single female found in Suffolk in 1907. ^[6]

References

1. Loew, H. (1844). "Kritische Untersuchung der europäische n Arten des Genus Trypeta Meig". Z. Ent. (Germar). 5: 312–437.
2. Loew, H. (1869). "Revision der europäische n Trypetina". Zeitschrift für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften. 34 (7/8): 1–24. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
3. Norrbom, A.L.; Carroll, L.E.; Thompson, F.C.; White, I.M; Freidberg, A. (1999). "Systematic Database of Names. Pp. 65-252. In Thompson, F. C. (ed.), Fruit Fly Expert Identification System and Systematic Information Database". Myia. 9: vii + 524.
4. White, I. M. (1988). Tephritid flies. Diptera: Tephritidae (Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects Vol. 10, Part 5a) (PDF). Royal Entomological Society of London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-01-23. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
5. "Tephritis praecox (Loew, 1844)". Fauna Europeana. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
6. Collin, J.E. (1937). "Trypeta vectensis sp.n. and other new or little known British species of Trypetidae (Diptera)". Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation. 49: 1–7.