Taxonomy
Valid name: Zeugodacus (Zeugodacus) strigifinis (Walker, 1861)
Preferred common name: None
Synonyms:
Dacus strigifinis (original name in Walker, 1861)
Asiadacus strigifinis (subsequent combination in May, 1963)
Bactrocera strigifinis (subsequent combination in Drew, 1989Drew, 1989:
Drew RAI, 1989. The tropical fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) of the Australasian and Oceanian regions. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 1: 1–521.)
Dacus strigifinis ssp. atritus (subsequent combination in Drew, 1973)
Dacus strigifinis ssp. strigifinis (subsequent combination in Drew, 1973)
Dacus albolateralis Malloch, 1939 (junior synonym)
Dacus lanceolatus Hardy, 1954 (junior synonym)
Neodacus lanceolatus Perkins, 1939 (junior synonym)
Unpublished COI data from the University of Hawaii Insect Museum suggests that the Australian Z. strigifinis is a distinct species from the New Guinea representatives.
Morphology-based identification
Zeugodacus strigifinis can be identified based on morphology, but note the possible taxonomic confusion above. Spot characters include the infuscation around vein
dm-cu (also seen in
Z. cucurbitae), the large medial yellow vitta on the scutum, and the almost completely fulvous abdomen.
Molecular identification
COI sequence data can be used to identify
Z. strigifinis - published reference data are only available for Australian specimens (
Doorenweerd et al. 2024Doorenweerd et al. 2024:
Doorenweerd C, San Jose M, Leblanc L, Barr N, Geib SM, Chung AYC, Dupuis JR, Ekayanti A, Fiegalan E, Hemachandra KS, Hossain MA, Huang C, Hsu Y, Morris KY, Maryani A. Mustapeng A, Niogret J, Pham TH, Thi Nguyen N, Sirisena UGAI, Todd T, Rubinoff D, 2024. Towards a better future for DNA barcoding: Evaluating monophyly‐ and distance‐based species identification using COI gene fragments of Dacini fruit flies. Molecular Ecology Resources 24: e13987. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13987).
Distribution
Zeugodacus strigifinis has been recorded from Queensland, New Guinea, and the Maluku Islands, which is its presumed native range – but see the taxonomy note above.
Further information
Zeugodacus strigifinis is reported as a "category C" pest of Cucurbitaceae flowers in Australia and New Guinea in
Vargas et al. 2015Vargas et al. 2015:
Vargas RI, Pinero JC, Leblanc L, 2015. An overview of pest species of Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the integration of biopesticides with other biological approaches for their management with a focus on the pacific region. Insects 6: 297–318. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects6020297. A category C pest is there defined as "relatively minor oligophagous or specialist fruit or cucurbit pests". Its only recorded host is
Cucurbita pepo, which includes the variety zucchini. This host is native to North America.
