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Anastrepha pulchella Norrbom

Dorsal habitus, female.

Recognition
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Anastrepha pulchella differs from all other species of Anastrepha in having a second hyaline area in cell r1, between the S-band and vein R2+3. It is one of three species of the serpentina group with the C- and S-bands broadly fused so that there is no hyaline area in the middle of cell br. It differs from the other two species, A. pulchra Stone and A. anomoiae Norrbom, in having the aculeus tip shorter (less than 0.30 mm long) and more than half serrate, the scutum with narrow orange dorsocentral vittae that are broad and fan-shaped anteriorly, the S-band meeting costa in cell r1 at a sharp angle, so that the basal marginal hyaline spot in cell r1 is triangular, and the apex of the basal hyaline spot in cell r1 is aligned proximal to crossvein R-M. See diagnoses of A. pulchra and A. anomoiae for additional differences.

Classification and Evolutionary Relationships
Order: Diptera. Family: Tephritidae. Genus: Anastrepha. Species: pulchella. 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 pulchella has been placed in the serpentina species group. Norrbom (2002) analyzed the relationships among the species of the serpentina group (see Phylogeny of the Anastrepha serpentina group), and considered A. pulchella to be most closely related to the clade A. pulchra Stone + A. anomoiae Norrbom.

Names Used for this Species
Anastrepha pulchella Norrbom 2002: 417.
Anastrepha pulchra: Stone 1942: 26 [in part], Plate 2C.
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Type Data
Holotype - Female (National Museum of Natural History (USNM), USNM00051717), PANAMA: Panamá: El Cermeño [8°44'N 79°51'W], 17 Oct 1939, J. Zetek 4566, paratype A. pulchra.

Distribution
Anastrepha pulchella is known only from Panama.
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Biology
The biology of Anastrepha pulchella is poorly known.  Its host plants are unknown.

Economic Significance
Anastrepha pulchella is not considered a pest species.

Comments
The name of this species is a Latin adjective meaning beautiful. It was also chosen because of the similarity of this species and A. pulchra, whose name is derived from the same root.

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. 2002. A revision of the Anastrepha serpentina species group (Diptera: Tephritidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 104: 390-436. [p. 417, 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]
Stone, A. 1942. The fruitflies of the genus Anastrepha. U. S. Dept. Agric. Misc. Publ. No. 439, 112 pp.