Urophora stalker Korneyev 1984

(Figs. 35–40)

Komeyev 1984: 61 ( Urophora); Urophora beikoi Korneyev 1985: 53; Korneyev & White 1993: 97 (synonymy).

Material examined. Iran: 1♀, East Azerbaijan Province, Ajabshir, 1469m, 37°31' N, 46°07' E, 24.vii.2010, Gharejedaghi; Kyrgyzstan: 2♀, 1♂ Bishkek, Tshon-Aryk, 1500m, 05.vi.1994, Korneyev (SIZK, SMNC); 1♀, Talas valley, 10.3km from Kok-Sai, steppe, 1700–1850m, 42°26' N, 71°00' E, 26.vi.1998, Korneyev & Kameneva (SMNC); Turkmenistan: 1♀, Kuhitang mts. 1000–2000m, reared from flower heads of Cousinia sp., collected: 20.v.1992, emerged: 29.v.1992, Korneyev (SMNC).

Diagnosis. U. stalker differs from other species of the U. xanthippe species group in having the wing pattern with four brown crossbands (with three crosssbands in U. kasachstanica and without crossbands in the other species).

Redescription. Head. Length: height: width ratio = 1: 1.21: 1.5. First flagellomere two times as long as wide. Compound eye 1.3 times as high as long. Gena 0.25–0.40 as high as eyes and 0.75 times as high as length of first flagellomere (Fig. 38). Legs yellow, fore femur with black dorsal stripe, mid and hind femora in some specimens with ventral black spots. Wing pattern with four brown crossbands. Subbasal band developed from anterior margin to anal vein; discal crossband complete, crossing wing from pterostigma through r-m crossvein to posterior margin and widely separated from subbasal crossband; apical band well developed. If preapical and apical crossbands fused narrowly in cell r1, preapical crossband is complete and reaching posterior margin; or if separated, preapical crossband developed only around dm-cu. Distance between crossveins r-m and dm-cu about 1.4 times as long as dm-cu crossvein (Figs. 35 & 37). Terminalia. Aculeus narrow and brown, 17.5 times as long as wide (Fig. 40), aculeus apex with distinct proximal and indistinct distal steps (Fig. 39). Tergite 5 of males as long as three preceding.

Measurements. ♀: WL = 4.1–5.2mm (average 4.6), AL = 2.7–4.1 mm (average 3.5), AL/WL = 0.57–0.85 (average 0.75) (n = 13) (Korneyev & White 1993).

Host plant. Cousinia sewertzowii Regel and Cousinia sp. (Korneyev & White 1993; 2000).

Distribution. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Iran (Korneyev & Merz 1999; Khaghaninia et al. 2012).