81 



The Mango Fruit Fly. 



(PI. II, fig. 8.) 

 Daciix ferrHfjinens, Fabricius. 



(Ent. Sy^t. IV, :>42, 1-27: Fab. Syst. Antl.. 271 .", : Wiedemann 

 Aussereuropaische ZweifltogeHga Insecten, 1828-30, vol. II, p. 515 ; 

 Macquart, Dipteres Exotiques, nouveaux ou peu connus, 1838, Supp., 

 3, 64, and 4, 2.) 



holeschall described this species undor two different names; first as 

 B'lctrncera maculipennis, in the Nat mirk Tijdschr van Nederl, Indie, vol. X, 

 1*~>U, p. 36, and figured it on plate 1. In ihe same journal, two years later, 

 he described a variety under the name of Bactrocera conformis. Van der 

 Wulp notices this in the Annales do la Societe Entom. de Belgique, in 1884, 

 in a paper entitled " Quelques Diptires Exotiques." 



In " Indian Museum Notes, " vol. Ill, 1(S96, in a contribution called " Miscel- 

 laneous Notes," E. C. Cotes figures and describes this fly as a mango pest in 

 India : and though he states that specimens sent to the British Museum had 

 been identified as Dacus ferrugineus, Fab., he calls it var. mangifera, Cotes, 

 under which name are specimens now in the Calcutta Museum. 



Originally described from Java and Amboina, it probably has a wide range, 

 and is certainly one of the commonest species in India and Ceylon. If my 

 determination is right, it is in regards to coloration and size a very variable 

 species, running from black in the thorax, and even the body, to reddish- 

 brown. This is one of the two species that is attracted by the scent of 

 <3itronella oil, the other being Dacus diversus. 



It is a general fruit pest, breeding from mangoes, oranges, and other fruits ; 

 but they were not obtained from any of the Cucurbitae, nor were they bred 

 from the infested peaches in the Government orchard at Pusa. This is a 

 -smaller i-eddish fly, which agrees with Bigot's description of Dacus persicce. 



Dacus fprrugineus is a medium sized species, measuring from 7 to 5 mm. ; 

 it is of a general rusty red colour, with the dorsal surface of the thorax varying 

 from black to a uniform rusty red tint: sometimes the abdomen is marked 

 with almost black bands. It has the shoulders, blotches on the sides, and 

 two lateral stripes on the dorsal surface of the thorax of pale, but often bright 

 yellow ; and the scutellum is also of the same colour. The wings are hyaline, 

 with reddish nervures, and the only marking upon them are a reddish stripe 

 along the latter half of the costal nervure, a very faint mark of fuscous at 

 the extreme tip of the wing, and a. blotch along the anal cell. The legs 

 of the female are blotched with brown ; those of the males lighter. The 

 abdomen has a narrow and then a much wider transverse band round the 

 basal half of the body, with a narrow dark parallel stripe down the centre 

 of the apical half, with either side darkly blotched ; the tip ferruginous. 

 In the darkest varieties the central bar does not show, as the whole of the 

 lower portion of the abdomen is dark reddish-brown to almost black. 



There is a specimen in the Verrall Collection, determined by Bigot as this 

 species, from Java. 



Maxwell-Lefroy ha.s figured this fly in his " Important Insects injurious txx 

 Indian Agriculture" (page 227, vol. I, No. 2, 1907) 



