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Title: Revision of the femoralis group of Blepharoneura Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Author
item Norrbom, Allen
item CONDON, M. - CORNELL COLLEGE MT VERNON

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/16/2009
Publication Date: 2/26/2010
Citation: Norrbom, A.L., Condon, M. 2010. Revision of the femoralis group of Blepharoneura Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae). Zootaxa. 2374:1-139.

Interpretive Summary: The more than 4,400 species of fruit flies (family Tephritidae) include numerous species important to agriculture as plant pests and biological control agents of noxious weeds. Other species are important as model organisms used for various scientific studies, ranging from genetics and evolutionary biology to ecology. In this paper a large group of fruit flies feeding on cucurbit plants (pumpkins and relatives) is revised. The evolution of the complex pattern of host plant usage by these flies is the subject of a National Science Foundation funded study by the authors and collaborators. Fourty species are recognized, of which 30 are described for the first time. This research will be of interest to evolutionary biologists and other scientists and to regulatory agencies such as APHIS-PPQ responsible for the quarantine and control of fruit fly pests.

Technical Abstract: The femoralis species group of the genus Blepharoneura is revised. The following 40 species (30 newly described) are recognized: amplihyalina, n. sp. (northwestern Argentina), apaapa, n. sp. (Bolivia), aspiculosa, n. sp. (Mexico), bidigitata, n. sp. (southern Brazil), bipunctata, n. sp. (Ecuador), biseriata Wulp (Mexico), bivittata, n. sp. (Nicaragua, Costa Rica), brevivittata, n. sp. (Costa Rica to Peru), chaconi, n. sp. (Costa Rica), curvifascia, n. sp. (Costa Rica), cyclantherae, n. sp. (Mexico), femoralis Wulp (Mexico to Brazil), fernandezi, n. sp. (Venezuela, northern Brazil), furcifer Hendel (Venezuela to Bolivia and Brazil), impunctata, n. sp. (Costa Rica), io Gilio Tos (Mexico), isolata, n. sp. (Guatemala), hirsuta Bates (Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil), hyalinella, n. sp. (Bolivia), lutea, n. sp. (Costa Rica), magnipunctata, n. sp. (Costa Rica), marshalli, n. sp. (northwestern Argentina), mexicana, n. sp. (Mexico), mikenoltei, n. sp. (Costa Rica), multipunctata, n. sp. (Ecuador), nigriapex, n. sp. (Bolivia), nigrifemur, n. sp. (Bolivia), polygona, n. sp. (Mexico), punctistigma, n. sp. (Mexico to Costa Rica), quadristriata Wulp (Mexico, Costa Rica; Colombia?), regina Giglio-Tos (Mexico), rupta (Wulp) (Mexico to Costa Rica), ruptafascia, n. sp. (Ecuador), septemdigitata, n. sp. (Peru, Bolivia), splendida Giglio Tos (Mexico to Venezuela), tau, n. sp. (Costa Rica), thetis Hendel (southern Brazil), unifasciata, n. sp. (Ecuador), variabilis, n. sp. (Mexico), and zumbadoi, n. sp. (Costa Rica). Blepharoneura amazonensis Lima & Leite, 1952 is considered a new synonym of B. hirsuta Bates, 1933, and a lectotype is designated for Blepharoneura furcifer Hendel, 1914.