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Issue: Vol. 5448 No. 2: 10 May 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-05-10
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5448.2.9
Page range: 292-300
Abstract views: 57
PDF downloaded: 1

Scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) reared from Spodoptera exigua (Hübner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Iran

Department of Zoology; University of Cambridge; Downing Street; Cambridge; CB2 3EJ; UK
Department of Plant Protection; Isfahan Research and Education Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources; AREEO; Isfahan; Iran
Department of Plant Protection; Isfahan Research and Education Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources; AREEO; Isfahan; Iran
Insect Taxonomy Research Department; Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection; AREEO; Tehran; Iran
Agricultural Entomology Research Department; Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection; AREEO; Tehran; Iran
Lepidoptera Diptera Phoridae Megaselia new species Iran

Abstract

The present study on scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) revealed six species of Megaselia, which are all new for the insect fauna of Iran. All six Megaselia species are reared from larvae of Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) feeding on cauliflower (Brassica cretica Lam.). Four species of Megaselia are described as new to science: M. exspodopera sp. n., M. necalbiclava sp. n., M. nocttuidpasco sp. n. and M. tubuslonga sp. n. We also discovered two females of Megaselia which at the present stage of investigation cannot be linked to the conspecific males.

 

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