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Hi all,

I tentatively "identified" this fly as Procecidochares connexa but of course I'm not sure, don't know anything about lookalikes in the region and I'm confused about the currently accepted name as both Procecidochares and Cecidochares seem to be in frequent use.

Help :S

Some 100km south-east of Magelang, Java, Indonesia, 2010-08-14

Thanks for any help/pointers

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I have no key with me at the moment; it is believed to be Procecidochares utilis Stone introduced as a biocontrol agent against Ageratina (=Eupathorium) adenophora into the Oriental and Australasian Regions. Cecidochares connexa Mcq. is a South American species, but I am unaware if it has been ever introduced elsewhere.

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Hi Valery,

Thanks for your opinion/info. I had landed on P. connexa because it is listed and depicted in a little booklet I found here called "Musuh Alami, Sahabat Petani" (Natural enemy, farmers friend) that lists a few biological control agents used in Indonesia; P. connexa being listed as a control agent for Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata). The booklet seems to be fairly low quality (many spelling mistakes, even in the scientific names of many animals), so maybe that reflects the quality of the contents too (?)

Nevertheless I've also found other info, PDFs etc, on the Internet discussing the introduction of P. connexa in Java, Indonesia (such as here and here, the later stating: "C. connexa was imported into Indonesia in 1993 from Colombia") as well as for instance to Guam (Northern Mariana Islands) - also as a control agent for Chromolaena odorata so I thought it was safe to assume that the species is being used more widely and that the distribution listed in the booklet (Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia) is at least based on somewhat accurate info.

That said, I don't know the first thing about other Procecidochares sp. so it may well be that this is utilis still ... The few images I found for both species (if identified correctly to begin with?) seem to be equally fitting in my layman's eyes :|

The gallery seems to be missing either one, so it would be neat if we can get to an ID :)

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OK, many thanks! I might miss quite a lot of new info on this group in 2000s, and did not intend to search for it. I shall try to do my best, just need a bit of time.

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Hi Valery,

It would be great if you can find out more, but absolutely no hurry - I'm quite happy with Procecidochares sp. too ;)

Incidentally I found yet another species that may be present in the "region at large": P. alani - that would be identical looking too according to Internet images (say no more). They all seem to differ in host plant manly (?) and I'm pretty sure I've photographed this fly away from it's host plant, so that's not going to be any help I'm afraid.

Not at all sure about current distribution and my Internet access for searching is limited here (traveling). So far I've found:

P. alani
Vernacular Names: Mist Flower Gall Fly
Host: Mist Flower - Ageratina riparia
Distr: Mexico (native); Introduced: Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand

P. connexa
Vernacular Names: ?
Host: Siam Weed - Chromolaena odorata
Distr: Native to Central and South America (Argentina?, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, ...); Introduced to: Indonesia (Java,East Timor, Sumatra?), Guam, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Philippines(?) ...

P. utilis
Vernacular Names: Mexican Devil Weed Gall Fly; Eupatorium Gall Fly(?)
Host: Mexican Devil Weed - Ageratina adenophora
Distr: Mexico (native); Introduced: Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, India, Nepal, South Africa, China

Interestingly this page states as a research goal for 2000: So maybe there is new data available by now?

Of course, there may well be others that are similar looking and/or the above is incomplete in host distribution data. But it's a start ;) Note that I didn't find info on alani and/or utilis in Indonesia/Java (yet).

Others:[list]
[*]P. atra (Americas?) (1, 2)
[*]... (to be completed)
[/list]

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*up*

Any chance of confirming this at least as Procecidochares sp. or Cecidochares sp. ?

(is there any usage for "sp." IDs in the gallery?)

And what genus name would be the currently accepted version anyway?

Cheers, Arp