The hitchhiker’s guide to Australia: the 18,000-km-long journey of Alepia viatrix Jaume-Schinkel, Kvifte, Weele & Mengual, 2022 (Diptera, Psychodidae) discovered through citizen science

By

Jaume-Schinkel, Santiago
Mengual, Ximo
Howe, Andy G.
Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023-8-30

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

19

Series / Issue

Issue: 4

Pages

589--597

Subjects

community science , dark taxa , DNA barcoding , introduced species , moth flies , new distribution , new record , school project , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/19.4.589

 

Abstract

The Neotropical genus Alepia Enderlein, 1937 (Diptera, Psychodidae) is newly recorded in Australia. We present new geographical records for Alepia viatrix Jaume-Schinkel, Kvifte, Weele & Mengual, 2022, extending the range of this species by 18,000 km. We attribute these new Australian records to the likely unintentional introduction of A. viatrix through international bromeliad trade. This moth fly was found by school children working with insect taxonomists through an Australian citizen-science project, Insect Investigators. We describe and present for the first time high-resolution SEM pictures of the eggs of the genus Alepia.