Author
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CALCATERRA, LUIS ALBERTO - USDA/ARS/SABCL |
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Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 3/19/2007 Publication Date: 7/1/2007 Citation: Calcaterra, L. 2007. Pseudacteon calderensis, a new fly species (Diptera:Phoridae) attacking the fire ant Solenopsis interrupta (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) in northwestern Argentina. Annuals of the Entomological Society of America. 100: pp 470-4793. Interpretive Summary: At least thirty species of flies are parasitoids of fire ants in the New World. Twenty-one species attack South American fire ants. Because of their potential as biological control agents, four of them have been released against the imported fire ants in the United States. The release of complementary species from regions with different environments and climates could increase the breadth and magnitude of impacts on imported fire ant populations in the United States. These flies are poorly known from remote regions, such as western Argentina. The fact that the most recently discovered species occur in this region seems to support the idea that this fauna is among the most poorly known. In this article, a new fly species discovered in northwestern Argentina is described. Technical Abstract: A new species of Pseudacteon phorid fly Pseudacteon calderis (Diptera: Phoridae) is described from females attacking worker ants of Solenopsis interrupta Santschi in Salta and Jujuy provinces, northwestern Argentina. Pseudacteon calderis differs from almost all other South American Pseudacteon species by the structure of the female ovipositor. This new species is morphologically similar to Pseudacteon borgmeieri Schmitz, but it differs slightly in the shape of the apex of the ovipositor and strongly because the absence of large and stout ventral hairs under the ovipositor. |
