ARS | Publication request: A new species of Philophylla Rondani (Diptera: Tephritidae: Trypetini) from New Caledonia, recognized based on female postabdominal structure and molecular sequence data

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: March 18, 2008
Publication Date: April 30, 2008
Citation: Han, H., Norrbom, A.L. 2008. A new species of Philophylla Rondani (Diptera: Tephritidae: Trypetini) from New Caledonia, recognized based on female postabdominal structure and molecular sequence data. Zootaxa. 1759: 43–50.

Interpretive Summary: The more than 4,400 species of fruit flies include numerous pests of fruits and vegetables which wordwide cause billions of dollars in agricultural losses annually. Most of the pest species that threaten U.S. agriculture are exotic, but the faunas of many tropical areas are poorly known. To exclude the pest species better knowledge of the taxonomy of these areas is needed. This paper describes a new fruit fly species recently collected from New Caledonia. This information will be of use to regulatory agencies such as APHIS-PPQ and to scientists studying fruit flies or the biota of New Caledonia.

Technical Abstract: Philophylla millei, n. sp., from New Caledonia is described and its relationship analyzed. This species was previously recorded as Anastrephoides sp. based on a single female, which closely resembles the eastern Palaearctic species Anastrephoides matsumurai. In the present study, we investigated whether this similarity reflects the close relationship of these species or a case of convergent evolution. We examined both male and female specimens of the New Caledonian trypetine species in detail and also sequenced the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene of this species and related trypetine species. Our results indicate that this new species is a member of the genus Philophylla Rondani based both on the female postabdominal structure as well as the DNA sequence data.