Neocaledonidiplosis Elsayed, gen. nov., a new genus of gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) endemic to New Caledonia, with description of a new species forming leaf galls on Neoarytera chartacea (Sapindaceae)

Abstract

New Caledonia is a biodiversity hotspot, but its gall midge fauna remains poorly known. In this study, we describe a gall midge Neocaledonidiplosis neoaryterae Elsayed, gen. et sp. nov. (Cecidomyiinae: Cecidomyiini) inducing leaf galls on Neoarytera chartacea (Sapindaceae) in Noumea, New Caledonia. The new genus is closely related to the catch‐all genus Contarinia, but distinguishable by the shorter ovipositor, longer aedeagus that bears sensoria and presence of the occipital protuberance. Molecular phylogenetic analysis was conducted and supported the close relationship of the new genus with Contarinia. This is the first example of a gall midge belonging to the tribe Cecidomyiini to be reported on Sapindaceae.

New hypothesis of the tribal placement puzzle of Enigmadiplosis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), with description of a new pest species on Rhododendron (Ericaceae) in Japan

“…Sequence data obtained were analysed with GenBank sequences of COI, 16S, ITS, CAD and 28S genes of ingroup species representing several tribes of the supertribe Cecidomyiidi, and three outgroup species representing two tribes of the supertribe Lasiopteridi are provided in Supplementary Table S2 (Dorchin et al 2019;Elsayed et al 2021;Elsayed and Mille 2022). The sequences of COI were aligned using the ClustalW algorithm in MEGA 11 (ver.…”