Section Schizophora Rank Species | Order Diptera Subsection Acalyptratae | |
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Similar Terellia, Chaetostomella cylindrica, Urophora stylata, Xyphosia miliaria, Trupanea amoena | ||
Terellia serratulae is a species of tephritid or fruit flies in the family Tephritidae.
Contents
Description
Terellia serratulae can reach a length of about 4–6 millimetres (0.16–0.24 in). This bluish clear-winged fruit fly has an hairy abdomen with a chequered black pattern. The apex of the antennae is reddish or yellow-orange. In the females the length of the ovopositor corresponds approximately to the length of the last three abdominal segments (tergites).
The females deposit eggs into the opened thistle flowerheads. The young larvae start feeding on the achenes of thistles (mainly Cirsium and Carduus species), but they do not induce gall-forming. They develop in the flower-heads (capitulum) of thistles in a cocoon of silk and plant hairs (pappus). This univoltine species overwinters in the larval stage. Adults are on the wing from July to September.
Distribution and habitat
This species can be found around thistles in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic ecozone, in the Near East and in North Africa.