Baldratia suaedae Möhn, 1969

Dorchin, Netta, Danon, Gilad & Dor, Roi, 2019, Gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) associated with Suaeda (Chenopodiaceae) in Israel and the Mediterranean Basin, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 49 (2), pp. 99-134 : 117-119

Baldratia suaedae Möhn, 1969

( Figs 24, 25)

Description: Similar to B. arida except for the following.

Gall and biology. This species develops in leaves of Suaeda vera without gall formation (our observations; Fig. 24) or by causing a slight swelling of the leaf ( Möhn 1969). The fusiform, orange eggs are stuck individually in the leaves, perpendicular to the leaf surface, such that the larva hatches directly into the leaf. Möhn (1969) described the species from material collected in Israel, Algeria and the Canary Islands, stating that it has two generations a year. However, over the years we reared adults in Israel from February to September, practically whenever the host plant was sampled, suggesting that the species is multivoltine. In Israel, B. suaedae is found wherever its host plant grows along the coastal plain – from Caesaria National Park in the north, where isolated plants grow near and on the walls of the historical city of Caesarea, to Tel Dor Nature Reserve and Ashkelon National Park in the south, where small populations of the plant grow on cliffs overlooking the sea. Suaeda vera is a rare species in Israel and its population in Jaffa, from which the species was originally described, apparently no longer exists. Apart from its sporadic occurrence along the coastal plain in Israel, this plant is locally abundant also in the central Negev Desert, in En Ovdat Nature Reserve. Interestingly, repeated sampling of that desert population on multiple occasions never yielded any gall midges, therefore it appears that B. suaedae is restricted to the Mediterranean coast.

Adult ( Fig. 25). General color of female pinkish, male brownish to light orange, dorsal part of thorax and abdominal tergites dark. Face, occiput, thorax and ventral and lateral parts of abdomen covered by white scales. Legs covered by white scales ventrally, black scales dorsally.Abdominal tergites each with three triangular patches of black scales on white background, forming three black lines along abdomen.

Head: Flagellomeres barrel-shaped to almost quadrate in both sexes; two flagellomeres sometimes partially fused in mid antenna, two or three apical flagellomeres almost always fused, slightly tapering apically.

Thorax: Wing length 1.33–1.89 mm in females (n=36), 1.23–1.73 mm in males (n=36); C and R 4+5 densely covered by black scales almost to meeting point, with patch of white scales at meeting point. Tarsal claws with thin tooth, strongly curved at base.

Larva (third instar). Light orange. Integument rugose. On each side of spatula three asetose lateral papillae, evenly distributed.

Pupa. Light orange. Antennal bases forming wide and short tapered horns, pointed ventrally. Face with small, straight anterior horn and small, wide-based posterior horn, with two clearly setose papillae half way between anterior and posterior horns.

Holotype: Larva , Israel: Jaffa, 12.vii.1912, E. Möhn, ex leaf of Suaeda vera (Möhn collection number 9710). Remounted on a permanent microscope slide in Euparal and labeled as the holotype by N. Dorchin (deposited in SMNS) . Other material from the Möhn collection did not survive (Möhn slide numbers 9710, 9492/10, 9492/11, listed in Möhn 1969).

Material examined (all from Suaeda vera ): Israel: 4♀ 2♂, Qaesaria National Park , 23.iv.1998, A. Freidberg ; 16♀ 16♂, 1 larva, 15 pupal exuviae (on 3 microscope slides), Qaesaria National Park , 8.ix.2014, N. Dorchin & A. Freidberg (1♂, 1♀, 2 pupal exuviae USNM, 1♂ 1♀ SMNS, 1♂ 1♀ ZFMK) ; 7♀ 7♂, Qaesaria National Park , 27.vii.2016, N. Dorchin ; 6♀ 2♂, Tel Dor Nature Reserve , 31.viii.2016, N. Dorchin . Portugal: 5♀ 4♂, Tejo Estuary , 15.ix.2016, D. Simon .

Distribution: Recorded from Israel, Algeria, Portugal and the Canary Islands; apparently circum-Mediterranean.

Remarks: This species was known to date only from its larvae and this is the first description of its adults and pupa. Adults do not differ morphologically from those of B. arida and B. karamae , except for the bigger size of B. ardia . The pupa and larva differ from those of B. arida , B. salicorniae and B. occulta (other species occurring in Israel) as discussed above under B. arida .