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Delphinia picta ovipositor is approximately 1.25 mm long |
Several of the native North
American picture-winged flies in the family
Ulidiidae are often confused with fruit flies in
the family Tephritidae. While the females of
most species of Tephritidae oviposit in living,
healthy plant tissue and their larvae live and
feed in various parts of the plant, the larvae
of most species of Ulidiidae are saprophagous.
That is, they feed on dead and decaying organic
materials. There are approximately 127 species
of Ulidiidae in North
America.
However, a few, such as Tritoxa flexa and
Tetanops myopaeformis (Röder), attack living
plant tissue. One of the picture-winged flies
most often mistaken for a true fruit fly, some
of which are important pests of citrus and other
fruit, is Delphinia picta (Fabricius). Although
the larvae of this fly have been collected from
fallen ripe plums, well decayed, D. picta larvae
do not attack fresh, healthy fruit. |
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Detailed descriptions of the egg, three larval
instars and puparium are given by Allen and Foote
(1967). The adult is readily recognized by the
distinctive wing pattern, shiny blackish-brown with
slight overtones of yellow in a few places on a
hyaline background. Average length of wing is 6 mm
and average body length from head to tip of abdomen
excluding the ovipositor is 7 mm. Head and thorax
are light brown; abdomen black; legs light brown to
yellowish-brown.
Larvae of this fly feed on
accumulations of decayed, sodden vegetation lying on
the surface of the ground or partially buried in the
soil, on rotting fruit, and on other kinds of
decomposing vegetation, including bulbs of
commercial onions and wild garlic. In northeastern
Ohio, adults were found most commonly on herbaceous
vegetation near garbage dumps and refuse heaps. A
few were taken in deciduous woodlands and at the
edges of wooded swamps. (1) |
Another picture-winged fly in the family Ulidiidae,
Tritoxa incurva
Reference:
1.
H.V. Weems, Jr., Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant
Industry, DPI Entomology Circular
96.Other flies of interest: |
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