A review of taxonomy and fl ower-breeding ecology of the Colocasiomyia toshiokai species group (Diptera: Drosophilidae), with description of a new species from Indonesia

• Main Authors: Tao, Shi, Toda, Masanori J., Takano, Kohei Takenaka, Yafuso, Masako, Suwito, Awit, Wong, Sin Yeng, Shang, Su Qhin, Gao, Jian Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Entomology 2019
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QH301 Biology; QL Zoology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27521/1/Toda.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27521/; https://www.eje.cz/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Flies of the Colocasiomyia toshiokai species group depend exclusively on infl orescences/infructescences of the aroid tribe Homalomeneae. The taxonomy and reproductive biology of this group is reviewed on the basis of data and samples collected from Southeast Asia. The species boundaries are determined by combining morphological analyses and molecular species delimitation based on sequences of the mitochondrial COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) gene. For the phylogenetic classifi cation within this species group, a cladistic analysis of all the member species is conducted based on 29 parsimony-informative, morphological characters. As a result, six species are recognised within the toshiokai group, including one new species, viz. C. toshiokai, C. xanthogaster, C. nigricauda, C. erythrocephala, C. heterodonta and C. rostrata sp. n. Various host plants are utilised by these species in different combinations at different localities: Some host plants are monopolized by a single species, while others are shared by two or three species. C. xanthogaster and C. heterodonta cohabit on the same host plant in West Java, breeding on spatially different parts of the spadix. There is a close synchrony between fl ower-visiting behaviour of fl ies and fl owering events of host plants, which indicate an intimate pollination mutualism.