The taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of species in the Bactrocera musae complex of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Bactrocera (Bactrocera) musae (Tryon) is a major pest species of some banana varieties in northern Queensland, the Torres Strait islands, Papua New Guinea and associated islands. It is the only pest species in a complex of 17 species described herein. Five of these are new species and are described and illustrated: Bactrocera (Bactrocera) balagawii, B. (B.) parabancroftii, B. (B.) ramuensis, B. (B.) rufi vitta, B. (B.) uvariae. The remaining twelve species have been previously described and are revised with up-to-date information on host plants, attractant records and geographic distributions. Further, a molecular study was able to explore the distinction between six of the described species. A phylogeney based on 562 base pairs of the COI gene showed strong agreement between morphological and molecular data. Furthermore, for three of the species that occurred in sympatry and were represented by suffi cient sample numbers (namely, B. contermina, B. musae, B. rufi vitta), analysis of eight new microsatellite loci using STRUCTURE also supported them as distinct species.