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Anastrepha avispa 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 the female eversible membrane dorsobasally with a single, medially interrupted row of very stout scales.  Anastrepha avispa 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. aquila, and zucchii differ from A. bicolor and macrura in having the costal band broadly extended in cell br to vein M and this section of br microtrichose. It and A. aquila are intermediate in abdominal pattern between the stripe or T-shaped mark found in A. macrura and zucchii and the banded pattern of A. bicolor. It differs from A. aquila by the following characters: oviscape length (< 5 mm, and < 1.5 times mesonotum length, vs. > 7 mm. and 1.7 times mesonotum length in aquila); scutum with broad medial nonmicrotrichose area extended to expanded posterior part of medial pale stripe and sublateral stripes; scutellum with basal seta at margin of brown area or within yellow area; and frons with orbital seta at margin or anterior to dorsal brown band (vs. at margin or within dorsal brown band in aquila). See the diagnosis of A. zucchii for characters to distinguish A. avispa from that species.

Classification and Evolutionary Relationships
Order: Diptera. Family: Tephritidae. Genus: Anastrepha. Species: avispa. 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 avispa 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. avispa in the macrura complex, which also includes A. aquila Norrbom, bicolor (Stone), macrura Hendel, and zucchii Norrbom.

Names Used for this Species
Anastrepha avispa Norrbom 1998: 176.
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Type Data
Holotype - Female (INBio000410954), COSTA RICA: Guanacaste: Parque Nacional Guanacaste, SW side of Volcan Cacao, Estación Cacao, 1000-1400 m., 21-29 May 1992, M.A. Zumbado.

Distribution
Anastrepha avispa is known with certainty only from Costa Rica. C.A. Korytkowski (pers. comm.) has examined specimens from Altos de Pacora, 800 m, Cerro Azul, Panama in the Universidad de Panama collection that may be this species.
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Biology
The biology of Anastrepha avispa 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 avispa is not considered a pest species.

Comments
The species name, from the Spanish for wasp, refers to the wasplike appearance of this species and its closest relatives.

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. 176, 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]