Blepharella lateralis Macquart, 1851

Shima, Hiroshi, Tachi, Takuji & Zhang, Wenxia, 2025, The genus Blepharella Macquart (Diptera: Tachinidae) from the Oriental Region, Journal of Natural History 59 (21 - 24), pp. 1647-1687 : 1660-1661

Blepharella lateralis Macquart, 1851

Figure 4 (A-C))

Blepharella lateralis Macquart, 1851, p. 177 . Holotype ♂ (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, not examined), by monotypy. Type locality: Puducherr [as Pondichérry], India), after Cantrell and Crosskey (1989: 776).

Blepharella tenuparafacialis Chao and Shi, 1982: 272 . Holotype ♂ (IZCAS, not examined). Type locality: Taiwan.

See other synonyms in Crosskey 1976: 234–235.

This species was described in detail by Mesnil (1952, p. 236–237) as B. munda . The male and female terminalia were described by Shima and Tachi (2019) and the details of examined specimens and some problems about the species are also noted there.

Zeegers and Majnon Jahromi (2015) recorded B. setigera Macquart from Middle East, the Palearctic Region (originally as B. setigena ), which Crosskey (1984, p. 283) considered doubtfully distinct from B. lateralis Macquart. We have not examined B. setigera at this time, so the problem is left for further study.

Description of puparium

Length: 11–12 mm. A barrel-form, anterior margin slightly bigger than posterior margin; body segments 2–10 each with 5–6 rows of very fine and short anterior spinuli (not distinct in low magnifications); posterior spiracles raised from posterior surface by about 1/2 length of spiracle, and separated from each other by about width of spiracle; each spiracle with 3 raised bumps containing sinuated small slits on surface. (Taken from 1 male puparium, parasitising Pericyma cruegeri (Butler) ( Lepidoptera , Noctuidae ) at Ngao, Thailand.)

Hosts. Lepidoptera : One species of Lymantriidae and eight species of Noctuidae are listed in Shima and Tachi (2019, p. 141).

Distribution

Oriental and Australian regions (for details see Shima and Tachi 2019).

Figures

Figure 4. Blepharella lateralis Macquart and B. leucaniae (Chao and Jin). (A) Adult male in B. lateralis in lateral view. (B) B. lateralis puparium in lateral view. (C) Same in posterior view. (D) Adult male of B. leucaniae in dorsal view. (E) Same in lateral view. (F) B. leucaniae epandrium, cerci and surstylus in dorsal view. (G) Male genitalia in lateral view. Scale bars: B, C = 1 mm; F, G = 0.2 mm.