Ophiomyia aquilegiana Lundquist

Guglya, Yuliia, 2025, Rearing mining flies (Diptera: Agromyzidae) from host plants as an instrument for associating females with males, with the description of two new species. Report 2, Zootaxa 5658 (1), pp. 1-86 : 13-15

Ophiomyia aquilegiana Lundquist

( Figs. 19–21 , 140–147 )

Material examined. Ukraine: Kharkiv Region: Kharkiv, City Center , 50°00'N, 36°14'E, 22.vi.2023 —stems with larva collected, 24–26.vi.2023 —imago, Yu. Guglya, ex Aquilegia hybr. (2♂ 1♀); same locality, 29.vi.2023 —stems with larva collected, 30.vi.2023 —imago, Yu. Guglya, ex Aquilegia hybr. (1♀) .

Hosts. Ranunculaceae : Aquilegia vulgaris L., Thalictrum flavum L., T. minus L. ( Papp & Černý 2015).

Mine. ( Fig. 19 ) The larva feeds as an external stem miner in the peduncle. Frass is arranged in large widely spaced grains. Mine tunnels, larva and puparium are well visible from outside. Pupation takes place subepidermally.

Puparium. ( Figs. 20, 21 ) Straw-coloured except the dark yellow posterior segment, 3.0 mm long, with readily visible but shallow segmentation; surface quite smooth except for single-row spine bands between all segments. Posterior spiracles set on short cylindrical protuberances that are entirely separated; dark yellow, fan-shaped, with five sessile bulbs arranged in a line.Anal plate scarcely protruding above the surface of puparium when viewed from the side and directed ventro-posteriorly. Spencer (1976) states that the puparium is black, but all reared specimens in my series had straw-coloured puparia.

Cephalopharingeal skeleton. ( Fig. 143 ) Left mouthhook distinctly larger dorsally than the right, both with narrow ventro-anterior portion, finger-shaped, abducted ventrally. Both mouthhooks bear two accessory teeth; both dorsal teeth are large, both ventral are small, all sharp, uniformly curved ventrally. Both dental sclerites well developed, equal in size, straight, long, narrow, 0.78× as high as left mouthhook. Mouthhooks, dental and intermediate sclerites are strongly sclerotized, dorsal cornua and ventral cornu much less so. Intermediate sclerite straight, narrow; bears small right angle tooth on the middle of ventral side. Dorsal and ventral cornua narrow, with undifferentiated “closed”windows. Indentation index 73.

Female head ( Figs. 140, 141 ) Black, with fronto-orbital plate not visible laterally; 3 ors, 2 ori; 1 st fl of medium size, oval. Gena uniformly rounded, 0.15× as wide as maximum height of eye. Vibrissa long, scarcely uniformly curved and directed anteriorly, 0.42× as long as maximum height of eye. Facial carina of medium size, elongated, 0.13× as wide as minimum width of frons.

Wing. ( Fig. 142 ) Hyaline, with brown veins; costa reaching M 1; last section of CuA 1 equal to the penultimate; calypter dark grey, margin and fringe black. Wing length 2.8 mm.

Female genitalia. ( Fig. 144–147 ) Spermathecae relatively small, 0.14× as high as anterior part of oviscape. Blade of egg-guide relatively wide, 4× as long as maximum width, with serrated edge apically and medial membrane with several small scales. Outer marginal denticles fine, scarcely visible, directed posteriorly. Proctiger generally cylindrical, slightly expanding posteriorly. Cercus oval, 0.2× as long as proctiger; patches of long setae located internalaterally and lateroapically. Spermathecae equal in size, brown, slightly wider than high and flattened basally. Internal duct invagination 0.75× as deep as height of spermatheca, tapering apically. Distinct basal collar present. Spermathecal duct weakly sclerotized. Ventral receptacle pale brown, S-shaped, 0.5× as long as egg-guide. Body of receptacle small, spherical, 0.14× as wide as length of receptacle. Tail of receptacle diverging into two long acute blades.

Distribution. British Isles, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden ( Papp & Černý 2015). Ukraine (first record).

Figures

FIGURES 19–24. Figures 19–21: Ophiomyia aquilegiana Lundquist; 19: mine with puparium in Aquilegia hybr. stem; 20: empty puparium viewed from the side; 21: posterior segments of puparium (posterior view). Figures 22–24: Ophiomyia heringi Starý; 22: mine with puparium in Lapsana communis stem; 23: empty puparium viewed from the side; 24: posterior segments of puparium (posterior view).

FIGURES 140–147. Ophiomyia aquilegiana Lundquist; 140: frontal view of head; 141: head viewed from the side; 142: wing; 143: cephalopharingeal skeleton; 144: oviscape, ventral receptacle and spermathecae proportionally; 145: spermatheca; 146 a, b: proctiger and egg-guide proportionally; a: proctiger; b: egg-guide; 147: ventral receptacle.