Rediscovery and identity of Pumilomyia protrahenda De Stefani (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) in Sicily with redescription and reassessment of its taxonomic position

Abstract

A population of the gall midge Pumilomyia protrahenda De Stefani, 1919 causing galls on Artemisia arborescens (Asteraceae) was discovered near Palermo (Sicily) in 2008. This species had not been found since 1918. Detailed study of morphological characters of adults, larvae and pupae revealed that P. protrahenda belongs to the genus Rhopalomyia Rübsaamen, 1892, tribe Rhopalomyiini. The monotypic genus Pumilomyia De Stefani, 1919 is therefore synonymized under Rhopalomyia Rübsaamen, 1892. Rhopalomyia protrahenda comb. n. is redescribed, with important morphological characters illustrated. Adults have one-segmented palpi, antennae with 12–13 short flagellomeres and long legs with simple tarsal claws. A neotype is designated in the present paper because the type of this species is lost. The host plant has a circum-Mediterranean distribution but the gall midge is currently known only from Sicily, where it completes several generations between January and May.