Contribution to the knowledge of Leucopomyia silesiaca (Egger, 1862), predator species of scale insects from Coccidae family, in Serbia

Abstract

Leucopomyia silesiaca (Egger, 1862) is a small, greyish-black fly from Chamaemyiidae (Diptera) family. The larvae of this species prey on the eggs in the ovisac of scale insects from the Coccidae, Pseudococcidae, Eriococcidae families. In Serbia, the presence of Leucopomyia silesiaca larvae have been registered in the ovisacs of two soft scale species, namely: Pulvinaria vitis on grapevine, and Pulvinaria floccifera on ivy. The larvae which feed by sucking the eggs have been found in May, pupae at the end of May, and imago at the beginning of June. The whole fly life cycle was completed in the ovisacs of these scale insects. The species was determined on the basis of the fly's morphological traits, especially male genitalia. In one ovisac of P. vitis, there were from one to four fly larvae, while in the ovisac of P. floccifera, only one larva was present. The fly larvae were present in 7­10% of the examined P. vitis ovisacs, and in 15% of the examined P. floccifera ovisacs.

U jajnim kesama štitastih vaši iz familije Coccidae, utvrđeno je prisustvo larvi Leucopomyia silesiaca (Egger, 1862), koje su se hranile jajima vašiju. L. silesiaca je predatorska muva iz familije Chamaemyiidae, reda Diptera. Tokom naših istraživanja, ova vrsta je u Srbiji utvrđena kao predator jaja dve vrste štitastih vaši, Pulvinaria vitis (L.) na vinovoj lozi i Pulvinaria floccifera (Westwood) na bršljanu. Na bazi sopstvenih zapažanja i literaturnih podataka, u radu se iznose podaci o osnovnim morfološko-biološkim karakteristikama L. silesiaca i njenom značaju u regulaciji brojnosti štitastih vaši.