Terellia serratulae

Terellia serratulae
Terellia serratulae. Male on a Cirsium flowerhead
Terellia serratulae. Female with ovopositor
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Section: Schizophora
Subsection: Acalyptratae
Superfamily: Tephritoidea
Family: Tephritidae
Subfamily: Tephritinae
Tribe: Terelliini
Genus: Terellia
Subgenus: Terellia
Species: T. serratulae
Binomial name
Terellia serratulae
Synonyms

Terellia serratulae is a species of tephritid or fruit flies in the family Tephritidae.[2]

Description

Terellia serratulae can reach a length of about 4–6 millimetres (0.16–0.24 in). This bluish clear-winged fruit fly has an hairy abdomen with a chequered black pattern. The apex of the antennae is reddish or yellow-orange. In the females the length of the ovopositor corresponds approximately to the length of the last three abdominal segments (tergites).[3][4]

The females deposit eggs into the opened thistle flowerheads. The young larvae start feeding on the achenes of thistles (mainly Cirsium and Carduus species), but they do not induce gall-forming. They develop in the flower-heads (capitulum) of thistles in a cocoon of silk and plant hairs (pappus). This univoltine species overwinters in the larval stage. Adults are on the wing from July to September.[5]

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found around thistles in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic ecozone, in the Near East and in North Africa.[6]

References

  1. ↑ ITIS
  2. ↑ Biolib
  3. ↑ Nature Spot
  4. ↑ Insecten Box
  5. ↑ H Michaelis Competition of Urophora Stylata F. and Terellia Serratulae L. (Dipt., Tephritidae) in the Flowerheads of Cirsium Vulgare
  6. ↑ Fauna Europaea


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