Liriomyza pedestris Hendel 1931

Liriomyza pedestris Hendel 1931 View in CoL

( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 22–25 )

Liriomyza pedestris Hendel 1931: 243 View in CoL .

Material examined. SAUDI ARABIA: 1♂, from Tanoma, Al-Kerya , 27.iii.2003, sweeping, H.A. Dawah ( CRES). GREECE: 2♂, Crete, Lasithi, Lasithi Plateau , 2km, W. Pinakiano 14–21.x.1997, Malaise trap, J.C. Deeming & M.R. Wilson ( NMWC). MALTA: 2♂, Bahrija stream, 18.iii.1996, J.C. Deeming ( NMWC).

Distribution. This species was first recorded from Saudi Arabia by Deeming (2006). Spencer (1971) examined five specimens of Hendel’s type series and a male from Germany (Rügen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Rügen Island in the Baltic Sea) designated as lectotype. It was described from Hungary, Germany (Rügen Is.), Finland, Russia (Kamchatka) and Spain and was further recorded from the Palaearctic Region; Austria, Corsica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungry, Iran, Israel, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan ( Černý et al. 2020).

Remarks. This is a grass-feeding species. Spencer (1971) reported that the aedeagus of L. pedestris is typical of the grass-feeders of Agromyzidae . There is difficulty in interpreting identity of any records of L. pedestris made between 1981 and 2003. In 1981 von Tschirnhaus synonymized L. pedestris with L. richteri Hering 1927 , but Zlobin (2003) found that on the basis of a detailed analysis of the structure of the male genitalia characters that the two to be distinct. Papp & Černý (2017) followed Zlobin (2003) and produced excellent figures (p. 190–191 figs 58A–C and 58D–J) of pedestris and p. 217–218D-K) of richteri .

Host remarks. It has been reared from Deschampsia flexuosa (L.) Trin., but almost certainly develops in other Poaceae ( Černý et al. 2018) .