Terellia serratulae

Terellia serratulae
Terellia serratulae. Male on a Cirsium flowerhead
Terellia serratulae. Female with ovipositor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Tephritidae
Subfamily:	Tephritinae
Tribe:	Terelliini
Genus:	Terellia
Species:	T. serratulae
Binomial name
Terellia serratulae (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Musca serratulae Linnaeus, 1758 Terellia dentata Loew, 1844 [1] Terellia palpata Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 [2] Terellia luteola Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 [2] Tephritis pallens Wiedemann, 1824 [3] Musca serratulaManuel, 1811 [4]

Terellia serratulae is a species of tephritid or fruit flies in the family Tephritidae. ^[5]

Description

Terellia serratulae can reach a length of about 4–6 millimetres (0.16–0.24 in). This bluish clear-winged fruit fly has a hairy abdomen with a chequered black pattern. The apex of the antennae is reddish or yellow-orange. In the females the length of the ovipositor corresponds approximately to the length of the last three abdominal segments (tergites). ^{[6] [7]}

The females deposit eggs into the opened thistle flowerheads. The young larvae start feeding on the achenes of thistles (mainly Cirsium and Carduus species), but they do not induce gall-forming. They develop in the flower-heads (capitulum) of thistles in a cocoon of silk and plant hairs (pappus). This univoltine species overwinters in the larval stage. Adults are on the wing from July to September. ^[8]

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found around thistles in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, in the Near East, and in North Africa. ^[9]

References

1. Loew, H. (1844). "Kritische Untersuchung der europäische n Arten des Genus Trypeta Meig". Z. Ent. (Germar). 5: 312–437.
2. Robineau-Desvoidy, André Jean Baptiste (1830). "Essai sur les myodaires". Mémoires presentés à l'Institut des Sciences, Lettres et Arts, par divers savants et lus dans ses assemblées: Sciences, Mathématiques et Physique. 2 (2): 1–813. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
3. Wiedemann, Christian Rudolph Wilhelm (1824). Munus rectoris in Academia Christiana Albertina aditurus Analecta entomologica ex Museo Regio Havniens: maxime congesta profert iconibusque illustrat. Kiliae,eregio typoguapheo scholarum. pp. 1–60. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
4. Manuel, B.E. (1811). Mouche. [Concl.] Pp. 1-45. In Olivier, G. A., Histoire Naturelle des Insectes, Volume 8, Mou-Pao. 722 pp. In Societe de Gens de Lettres, de Savants et d'Artistes, Encyclopedie Methodique. Paris: Agasse.
5. 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.
6. Nature Spot
7. Insecten Box
8. H Michaelis Competition of Urophora Stylata F. and Terellia Serratulae L. (Dipt., Tephritidae) in the Flowerheads of Cirsium Vulgare
9. Fauna Europaea

External links

• LES TEPHRITIDES (TRYPETIDES)