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Anastrepha aquila Norrbom

Wing.

Recognition
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This species belongs to the daciformis species group, which differs from other species of Anastrepha in having the basal third of the scutellum brown, the male phallus extremely short (less than 0.30 mm long) and with the glans absent (as in the dentata group), and with the female eversible membrane dorsobasally with a single, medially interrupted row of very stout scales.  Anastrepha aquila is one of several species with a vespidlike wing pattern comprising only a broad, uninterrupted, costal band covering all of cell r₂₊₃, and a cubital streak.  It, A. avispa, and A. zucchii differ from A. bicolor and A. macrura in having the costal band broadly extended in cell br to vein M and this section of br microtrichose. It and A. avispa are intermediate in abdominal pattern between the stripe or T-shaped mark found in A. macrura and A. zucchii and the banded pattern of A. bicolor. It differs from A. avispa by the following characters: oviscape length (> 7 mm, and > 1.7 times mesonotum length, vs.< 5 mm. and < 1.5 times mesonotum length in A. avispa); scutum microtrichose except for medial presutural bare area and very narrow dorsocentral stripe; scutellum with basal seta within brown area; and frons with orbital seta at margin or within dorsal brown band (vs. at margin or anterior to dorsal brown band in A. avispa). See the description of A. zucchii for characters to distinguish A. aquila from that species.

Classification and Evolutionary Relationships
Order: Diptera. Family: Tephritidae. Genus: Anastrepha. Species: aquila. Author: Norrbom.
Relationships among the species of Anastrepha were analyzed by Norrbom et al. (1999) and McPheron et al. (1999). Click here for more detailed discussion of Anastrepha phylogeny. Anastrepha aquila has been placed in the daciformis species group. Norrbom (1998) analyzed the relationships among the species of the daciformis group (see Phylogeny of the Anastrepha daciformis group) and included A. aquila in the macrura complex, which also includes A. avispa Norrbom, bicolor (Stone), macrura Hendel, and zucchii Norrbom.

Names Used for this Species
Anastrepha aquila Norrbom 1998: 175.
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Type Data
Holotype - Female (INBio001908656), COSTA RICA: Guanacaste: P. N. Guanacaste, A. C. Guanacaste, Sector Las Pailas, 800 m., 6-26 Jun 1994, K. Taylor.

Distribution
Anastrepha aquila is known only from Costa Rica.
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Biology
The biology of Anastrepha aquila is poorly known.  Its host plants are unknown, although it probably attacks fruits of species of Sapotaceae like other species of the daciformis species group.

Economic Significance
Anastrepha aquila is not considered a pest species.

Comments
The name of this species refers to its largely swarthy color.

References
Key references are listed below. See fruit fly literature database for additional references.
McPheron, B. A., H.-Y. Han, J. G. Silva & A. L. Norrbom. 1999. Phylogeny of the genera Anastrepha and Toxotrypana (Trypetinae: Toxotrypanini) based upon 16S rRNA mitochondrial DNA sequences, p. 343-361. In M. Aluja & A. L. Norrbom, eds., Fruit flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and evolution of behavior. CRC Press, Boca Raton. [16] + 944 p. [phylogeny]
Norrbom, A. L. 1998. A revision of the Anastrepha daciformis species group (Diptera: Tephritidae). Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 100: 160-192. [p. 175, description]
Norrbom, A. L., R. A. Zucchi & V. Hernández-Ortiz. 1999. Phylogeny of the genera Anastrepha and Toxotrypana (Trypetinae: Toxotrypanini) based on morphology, p. 299-342. In M. Aluja & A. L. Norrbom, eds., Fruit flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and evolution of behavior. CRC Press, Boca Raton. [16] + 944 p. [classification & phylogeny]