Bactrocera (Bactrocera) prabhakari Maneesh, Gupta & Hancock 2023, sp. n.
Creators: name: Singh, Maneesh Pal
name: Gupta, Divender
name: Hancock, David Lawrence
name: Sharma, Isha
name: Sharma, Prem Lal
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Tephritidae
Bactrocera
Bactrocera prabhakari

description: Bactrocera (Bactrocera) prabhakari Maneesh, Gupta & Hancock, sp. n.
(Figures 1–5)
Diagnosis: A medium-sized (5.9 mm), reddish species with black scutum. Head with three pairs of frontal setae, elongate-oval facial spots, trilobed aculeus tip and preputium with light hexagonal pattern. It resembles B. latifrons (Hendel) but can be differentiated by the narrow anepisternal stripe, narrow and elongate expansion of the apical portion of costal band, anterior lobe of aculeus tip and preputium with light hexagonal pattern.
Head: Face yellowish white, slightly light brown at antennal socket. Two medium-sized, elongate-oval black spots (0.242 mm long and 0.11 mm wide) on face; female with an additional median small black spot in between the two larger spots but this character seems to be variable. Head slightly humped above and just below the antennae. Orbital area with median small black spot. Antennae 0.8 mm long. Flagellum dorsolaterally dark, basal 20% of arista reddish, rest black. Gena pale yellowish golden with subgenal dark spot. Postocciput black. Well-spaced 3 pairs frontal setae, 1 pair orbital, 2 vertical (inner setae pale) and 1 genal seta.
Thorax: Scutum dull black without shiny appearance. Postpronotal lobe yellow with slightly darker anterior margin. Yellow lateral postsutural vittae present (0.088 mm wide) and median vitta absent. Lateral postsutural vittae end just at intra-alar setae. Scutellum yellow and triangular with narrow black basal band. Yellow anepisternal stripe as wide as notopleuron, wider apically (0.55 mm), narrow basally (0.242 mm), extending onto katepisternum as a small oval yellow spot. Katatergite and anatergite bright yellow except basal 25% dark black. Setae: 2 scapular (inner seta larger than outer and pale), 2 notopleural (anterior seta pale), 1 postsutural supra-alar (small), 1 prescutellar acrostichal, 1 intra-alar, 1 post-alar, 1 anepisternal and 1 pair scutellar (pale and apical). Wing (4.664 mm) hyaline, narrow costal band extends beyond apex of R 4+5 as a medium-sized and elongate expansion. Costal band weakly overlaps R 2+3 as a light infuscation. Minute microtrichia in anteroapical corner of subcostal cell. Anal streak broad and reaching anal lobe in male but not in female although width of anal streak is very similar. Medium-developed anal lobe, slightly curved or sigmoid at outer margin. All femora pale yellow except for black spot on ventrolateral side. Hind and mid tibiae largely black and fore tibia pale yellow.
Abdomen: Abdomen oval to slightly petiolate. Tergite I, 0.968 mm wide and 0.506 mm long; tergite II, 1.562 mm wide and 0.572 mm long. Tergite I black with base partially dark fulvous, black laterally. Tergite II fulvous with narrow black transverse band, mostly black laterally. Tergite III with broad black basal band, narrower at margins and small medial vitta extending towards tergite IV, black laterally. Tergites IV and V without black bands, tergite IV black anterolaterally and tergite V longer than others. Pecten present on tergite III in male. All sternites black except sternite II. Male sternite V with deep posterior concavity (0.484 mm wide at posterior margin).
Female Genitalia: Oviscape dark black and 0.942 mm long. Eversible membrane 1.496 mm long and with round to irregular-shaped spicules on distal membrane that appear to be of semicircular shape without any projections; however, higher magnification and tilting of slide reveals that each spicule bears 4–5 projections (Figure 2C). Aculeus (1.364 mm) trilobed (Figure 2D); median lobe 0.0264 mm long and dome-shaped. Aculeus (Figure 2B) grooved basally and base elevated (not flat), inwardly curved and difficult to place under a cover slip.
Male Genitalia: Epandrium and proctiger equally high (0.22 mm) and proctiger triangular in shape (Figure 3A). Lateral surstylus 0.22 mm long, anterior and posterior lobes of equal size (0.033 mm) (Figure 3B). Medial surstylus 0.198 mm long with two dark and patterned prensisetae. Aedeagus 2.15 mm long excluding glans (0.242 mm). Glans (Figure 3E) bears sharp triangular-shaped spines laterally near preputium (Figure 3D). Vesica (0.077 mm) shorter than subapical lobe (0.11 mm). Subapical lobe capitate in shape. Preputium broad at base and opening but appears narrow in middle. Preputium with light hexagonal pattern and lacking spines (Figure 3C). Vesica wrapped around the tip of glans and appears to have two separate openings at the tip of glans (Figure 3F).
Paratypes:All paratypes are similar to Holotype and female paratype has similar median black spot between the two oval spots on face. A male paratype has slightly paler legs.
Type Material: Holotype ♀, Solanum khasianum, INDIA, Himachal Pradesh, Solan, Nauni, 30°51’24”N 77°10’17”. 21.xi.2022, Maneesh. Paratypes: 1 ♀, Solanum khasianum, INDIA, Himachal Pradesh, Nauni, 30°51’24”N 77°10’17”. 21.xi.2022, Maneesh; 2♂, Solanum khasianum, India, Himachal Pradesh, Nauni, 30°51’24”N 77°10’17”. 21.xi.2022, Maneesh. Holotype and 2 Paratypes (1 male and 1 female along with genitalia) in High Altitude Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India; Paratype (1 male) retained by author, Department of Entomology, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of horticulture and Forestry Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Etymology: The species is named after Prof. C.S. Prabhakar (Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour, Bihar), friend of the first author, for his encouragement to study tephritids and for his valuable help in his life.
Host plant: Solanum khasianum Clarke (Solanaceae).
Parapheromone: Unknown; males are not attracted to both cue lure and methyl eugenol.
Remarks: The described species resembles B. latifrons (Hendel) but can be differentiated by presence of three pairs of frontal setae, elongated facial spots, narrow anepisternal stripe, narrower apical portion of costal band, curved base of aculeus, base of aculeus without flat flanges, dome-shaped anterior lobe of aculeus, narrow preputium, preputium with partial hexagonal pattern and spines on lateral side of glans.
Samples of B. latifrons were reared from cherry tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium) in the same area for comparison and B. prabhakari sp. nov. is very different. The tip of the aculeus in B. latifrons is acute and evenly tapered, not dome-like (Figure 4C–D). It has been reported previously that B. latifrons has semicircular spicules on eversible membrane without any projections (David and Ramani 2019), but the spicules in B. latifrons do have a spine and projections but, due to alignment, it is hard to see the denticles over the spicules. At the distal end of the eversible membrane of B. latifrons 2–5 sharp projections or denticles are present, aligned at right angles to the tip of the spicule (Figure 5D,F), which are difficult to see without phase contrast. The spicules on the distal end of the eversible membrane are very similar in B. prabhakari sp. nov. and B. latifrons, but the projections appear more elongated and separated in B. latifrons, while in the new species the projections appear to be joined to each other. However, we are not entirely sure about this difference because it is hard to clear it at higher magnification. The denticles on the semicircular spicules are a new observation that until now remained hidden. Base of aculeus in B. latifrons is lightly curved toward inner side but can be placed under cover slip easily and at the junction with the aculeus membrane the aculeus base has two flap-like flanges, while in B. prabhakari sp. nov. base of aculeus is strongly curved and elevated dorsally, making it hard to place under a cover slip. The new species also lacks basal flap-like flanges at the junction of eversible membrane and aculeus (Figure 5A–B).
The preputium of B. latifrons is clear without any hexagonal patterns, while in B. prabhakari sp. nov. the preputium has hexagonal patterns at its base; these patterns are not prominent but can be recognized easily. This character differs from other species of subgenus Bactrocera, which are not known to have these hexagonal patterns in the preputium. Preputial patterns are very common in the Zeugodacus group of species and the B. prabhakari sp. nov. preputial pattern appears very similar to that of B.(Javadacus) zahadi Mahmood, but the pattern in the preputium of B. prabhakari sp. nov. is not well developed or only partial, suggesting either a vestigial ancestral link with the Zeugodacus group or homoplasy.
description: Published as part of Singh, Maneesh Pal, Gupta, Divender, Hancock, David Lawrence, Sharma, Isha & Sharma, Prem Lal, 2023, A new species of Bactrocera Macquart reared from Solanum khasianum Clarke in northern India and a new synonym, pp. 526-540 in Zootaxa 5380 (6) on pages 529-535, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5380.6.2, http://zenodo.org/record/10259606