The leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects
 

(Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera)

by Brian Pitkin, Willem Ellis, Colin Plant and Rob Edmunds

 

Scaptomyza sp.
[Diptera: Drosophilidae]


Scaptomyza montana; Basden, 1954. [Misidentification of montana Wheeler, 1949]
Scaptomyza sp.


Lifestyle: Unknown.

Larva: The larvae of flies are leg-less maggots without a head capsule (see examples). They never have thoracic or abdominal legs. They do not have chewing mouthparts, although they do have a characteristic cephalo-pharyngeal skeleton (see examples), usually visible internally through the body wall.

Puparium: The puparia of flies are formed within the hardened last larval skin or puparium and as a result sheaths enclosing head appendages, wings and legs are not visible externally (see examples).

Comments: Scaptomyza montana of Basden (1954) was misidentified. The true montana (Basden, 1949) (described from North America) was synonymised with flava (Fallén, 1823c) by Hackman (1959), who stated that Basden's montana was an undescribed species. It remains undescribed. (Bachli, pers. comm. in Chandler, 1998: 156).

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland: Currently unknown.

Hosts elsewhere: Currently unknown.

Time of year - mines: Currently unknown.

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Currently unknown.

Distribution elsewhere: Currently unknown.

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Host species unknown

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Currently unknown.



External links: Search the internet:

Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Atlas
NHM UK Checklist

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