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Title: Revision of the Nearctic holly leaf miners in the genus Phytomyza (Diptera: Agromyzidae), including descriptions of four new species

Author
item LONSDALE, O. - California Department Of Food And Agriculture
item Scheffer, Sonja

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/6/2011
Publication Date: 11/11/2011
Citation: Lonsdale, O., Scheffer, S.J. 2011. Revision of the Nearctic holly leaf miners in the genus Phytomyza (Diptera: Agromyzidae), including descriptions of four new species. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 104(6):1183-1206.

Interpretive Summary: The larvae of leafmining flies cause extensive damage to agricultural and horticultural host plants, often resulting in economic losses of millions of dollars due to decreased production, reduced marketability, and/or export restrictions. Several species of hollies are widely grown as important landscape plants and for ornamental cut foliage. Hollies growing in the United States may be attacked by as many as 11 native species of similar leafmining flies, four of which were not previously known. We provide morphological descriptions and keys for all 11 species, as well as information on host plant use, seasonality, and life cycles. This information will be of value to horticulturalists, extension scientists, and commercial holly growers, as well as ecologists and evolutionary biologists interested in insect-plant interactions.

Technical Abstract: The Phytomyza ilicis species group is the only taxon in the phytophagous family Agromyzidae (Diptera: Schizophora) known to feed on hollies (Ilex: Aquifoliaceae) in North America, mining within the living leaves as larvae. The clade is represented here by 11 species native to eastern North America, although P. vomitoriae has been introduced into California. The sole European holly leafminer, P. ilicis Curtis, is also present in western North America following introduction. The North American fauna is revised below, following a molecular treatment of the group by Scheffer & Wiegmann (2000), who discovered several previously undescribed species. These new species (P. ambigua spec. nov., P. leslieae spec. nov., P. lineata spec. nov., P. wiggii spec. nov.) are formally named, and all North American species are described, illustrated, and included in an updated identification key. A lectotype is designated for P. ilicis.