Phalacrotophora beuki (Diptera: Phoridae), a parasitoid of ladybird pupae (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Abstract

In the years 1998-2000, parasitization of the pupae of various ladybird species by scuttle flies of the genus Phalacrotophora was studied in central Poland. Altogether, 12 ladybird species were found to be parasitized by these flies, and one of them, Anatis ocellata (L.), proved to be a host of P. beuki Disney, a species whose biology had not previously been described. Our studies showed that P. beuki can limit the numbers of A. ocellata. In its typical habitat, i.e. Scots pine forests, 35-40% of this ladybird were parasitized by P. beuki. In other habitats, however, where A. ocellata occurred sporadically, P. beuki was not recorded from A. ocellata or other ladybird pupae. P. beuki was described from a single female collected in Holland. The present paper describes the hitherto unknown male, which is very similar to the males of P. berolinensis Schmitz and P. delageae Disney. The feature that reliably separates the males of these three species (a detail of the hypopygium) is described. This feature enabled the recognition in the collection of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology of a male of P. beuki from Germany, previously assigned to P. berolinensis.

Keywords

• phalacrotophora beuki
• p. berolinensis
• p. delageae
• phoridae
• anatis ocellata
• coccinellidae
• dipteran parasitoid