Ophiomyia parda Eiseman & Lonsdale 2018, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Eiseman, Charles S.
name: Lonsdale, Owen
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Agromyzidae
Ophiomyia
Ophiomyia parda

description: Ophiomyia parda spec. nov.
(Figs. 11, 95–96, 250–255)
Holotype. MASSACHUSETTS: Franklin Co., Northfield, 276 Old Wendell Rd., 13.vi.2016, em. 24–29.vi.2016, C.S. Eiseman, ex Symphyotrichum laeve, #CSE2629, CNC654172 (1♂).
Paratypes. MASSACHUSETTS: Berkshire Co., Lenox, Mahanna Cobble, 12.vii.2016, em. 19.vii.2016, C.S. Eiseman, ex Symphyotrichum lanceolatum, #CSE2780, CNC654237 (1♂); Franklin Co., Northfield, 276 Old Wendell Rd., 42.650518, -72.431264, 8.vii.2016, em. 16.vii.2016, C.S. Eiseman, ex Symphyotrichum puniceum, #CSE2768, CNC654119 (1♀); Hampshire Co., Northampton, bikeway west of King St., 13.ix.2013, em. 19.ix.2013, C.S. Eiseman, ex Symphyotrichum cordifolium, #CSE911, CNC384748 (1♂); Pelham, Quarry St., 4.vii.2013, em. 14.vii.2013, C.S. Eiseman, ex Symphyotrichum cordifolium, #CSE694, CNC392688 (1♀); OHIO: Adams Co., West Union, Chateau, 30.vii.2016, em. 8.viii.2016, C.S. Eiseman, ex Symphyotrichum shortii, #CSE2860, CNC654483 (1♀).
Additional material examined. NORTH CAROLINA: Durham Co., Durham, Leigh Farm Park, 16.iv.2017, em. by 6.v.2017, T.S. Feldman, ex Symphyotrichum patens, #CSE3647, CNC 939782 (1♀).
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the patterning of frass in the leaf mine, which is reminiscent of the spotted pattern of the leopard, Panthera pardus (L.).
Hosts. Asteraceae: Symphyotrichum cordifolium (L.) G.L. Nesom, S. laeve (L.) Á. Löve & D. Löve, S. lanceolatum (Willd.) G.L. Nesom, S. puniceum (L.) Á. Löve & D. Löve, S. shortii (Lindl.) G.L. Nesom; tentatively identified female reared from S. patens (Aiton) G.L. Nesom. Frost’s (1924) records of Agromyza curvipalpis var. texana from S. lanceolatum, S. novae-angliae (L.) G.L. Nesom, and S. undulatum (L.) G.L. Nesom are probably referable to O. parda. We have also seen mines like those of O. parda (including photographs posted to www.BugGuide.net) on S. drummondii (Lindl.) G.L. Nesom, S. lateriflorum (L.) Á. Löve & D. Löve, S. pilosum (Willd.) G.L. Nesom, S. prenanthoides (Muhl. ex Willd.) G.L. Nesom, and S. turbinellum (Lindl.) G.L. Nesom.
Leaf mine. (Figs. 95–96) Long, narrow and entirely linear, with frass in conspicuous, widely spaced black lumps that fill the width of the mine. The mine is almost entirely on the upper leaf surface, where it appears either uniformly pale green or whitish mottled with green (Fig. 95), but a short, whitish, terminal segment is on the lower surface, where it typically follows the leaf margin (Fig. 96). The lower surface portion of the mine on Symphyotrichum puniceum was longer than in the others and included the final frass lump. In both of the mines we collected on S. cordifolium, the mine wandered until reaching the leaf margin, then closely followed the leaf serrations to the base before continuing to meander across the leaf blade, either not crossing the midrib or only crossing it near the tip; in both cases, frass was in widely spaced grains in the early portion of the mine that followed the leaf margin, then seemingly absent from the remainder of the mine.
Puparium. (Fig. 96) Pale bluish-white, formed within the leaf, at the end of the whitish underside mine (usually adjacent to the leaf margin).
Distribution. USA: MA, NC?, OH. We have seen probable leaf mines of Ophiomyia parda (including photographs posted to www.BugGuide.net) in CT, IA, MD, ME, MO, NY, OK, TN, WI, and Canada: NB.
Adult description. Wing length 2.6mm (♂), 2.4mm (♀). Length of ultimate section of vein CuA1 divided by penultimate section: 0.8. Eye height divided by gena height: 7.5. First flagellomere small, rounded. Arista pubescent. Notum subshining. Frons gradually sloping into short face. Lunule wide but very shallow. Eye strongly slanted. Ocellar triangle ending just past level of posterior ori, apex tapered. Facial carina high; bulb subshining, not much wider than carina above bulb, which is widely and shallowly grooved medially. Genal process approximately as long as high, with sides forming slightly less than a 60° angle. Clypeus strongly narrowed anteriorly, arms bowed posteriorly, apex rectangular with corners minutely pointed.
Chaetotaxy: Ocellar and postvertical setae subequal to ors. Male fasciculus composed of several upcurved setae. Two dorsocentral setae. Approximately eight rows of acrostichal setulae. Mid tibia with one lateromedial seta.
Coloration: (Fig. 11) Setae black. Body dark brown; ocellar triangle (not including shallow tubercle) and orbital plate paler, with beige tint. Calypter margin pale, hairs brown. Haltere brown. Female abdomen with slight coppery shine and either reddish or greenish tint.
Genitalia: (Figs. 250–255) Epandrium shallow, anteriorly curved to point of fusion with surstylus. Surstylus small, rounded with apex slightly flattened, with several irregular rows of tubercle-like setae internally. Hypandrium long and narrow with pointed apex. Phallophorus cylindrical with base constricted and dorsum shortened. Basiphallus with right arm better defined, narrow, nearly as long as distiphallus, basally confluent with slightly shortened and much weaker left arm; slight gap between apex of basiphallus and base of distiphallus. Mesophallus small, lobate, base ending slightly past that of distiphallus; inserted ventromedially into distiphallus. Distiphallus approximately 1.5 times longer than wide, diamond-shaped in ventral view with corners broadly rounded, slightly asymmetrical on minutely tuberculate distal half; with long, distinct ventromedial suture originating in swelling adjacent to mesophallus insertion; most of dorsum open, with only part of narrow, pointed basal chamber covered before clear, strongly flared membrane; with very long, distally curved medial plate and similarly curved distomedial tube emerging distally. Ejaculatory apodeme well-developed, base wide, stem long and narrow, blade large, pale and rounded with pigmented striations and slight medial rib; sperm pump small with strong, dark, transverse sclerotized band with ends upcurved.
Comments. While the new species will key to Ophiomyia delecta Spencer / O. asymmetrica Spencer in Spencer & Steyskal (1986), the male genitalia are highly similar to those of Ophiomyia quinta Spencer, which may be known from the holotype alone. Externally, the holotype of O. quinta differs in being slightly smaller (wing 2.1mm) than the new species, and the margin of the calypter is dark brown (not whitish), similar to the calypter hairs; the male genitalia differ in having a thicker and longer mesophallus (basal margin level with that of distiphallus), the dorsum of the distiphallus (Fig. 256) is shallower, the distoventral plate is better sclerotized, the flared dorsobasal membrane is sclerotized (not clear) and the dorsomedial process of the distiphallus is straighter and pointed.
We suspect the New York and Pennsylvania specimens, reared from Solidago by S. W. Frost and identified by Spencer & Steyskal (1986) as O. quinta, are in fact O. maura (see Discussion under that species), while the Arkansas specimens from mines on “ Aster ” may represent O. parda. Russian material noted in Strakhova et al. (2013) is also in need of verification.
description: Published as part of Eiseman, Charles S. & Lonsdale, Owen, 2018, New state and host records for Agromyzidae (Diptera) in the United States, with the description of thirty new species, pp. 1-156 in Zootaxa 4479 (1) on pages 24-25, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4479.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1452913