Procecidochares utilis Stone

Procecidochares utilis Stone View in CoL ( Figure 3 View FIGURE 3 )

Procecidochares utilis Stone, 1947: 97 View in CoL . Type locality Mexico.

This species was well described along with genital characters by Hardy and Drew (1996). It is a small (3.89 mm) black species with white coarse setulae. Flagellum reddish brown, shorter than face, broad, flat, dorsoapically pubescent and arista lightly plumose. Three frontal setae, 1 orbital, 2 vertical, postocellar and postocular stubby white. Face yellowish white. Scutum shiny black, covered in white setulae, scutellum convex and broader than long. Full complement of thoracic setae. All femora black and tibiae reddish brown. Wing (3.88 mm) hyaline with 3 brownish bands (fig. 3C) and haltere apically black. Abdomen black, setulose with white setulae and oviscape black. Genitalia not dissected.

Host: Ageratina sp. ( Asteraceae ).

Material examined: 3 ♀, ex Ageratina sp. , INDIA, Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, Summer hills. 13.viii.2024, Maneesh Leg. Specimens are with the first author .

Remark: Procecidochares utilis is an introduced fruit fly in India, previously recorded from southern India ( Agarwal and Sueyoshi, 2005) and possibly spread throughout the country, but no documented records of its occurrence at higher altitudes were found in literature. Other Tephritinae species were recorded from high altitudes in India by Maneesh et al. (2023, 2024) and the Himalayan fauna is still imperfectly known.