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A new species of scuttle fly (Diptera: Phoridae) that is a pest of oyster mushrooms (Agaricales: Pleurotaceae) in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

S. Mohan*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Entomology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India
S. Mohan*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Pathology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India
R.H.L. Disney
Affiliation:
Field Studies Council Research Fellow, University Department of Zoology, Cambridge, UK
*
Dr S. Mohan, Department of Agricultural Entomology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, India.
Dr S. Mohan, Department of Agricultural Entomology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, India.

Abstract

In south India the cultivated oyster mushroom Pleurotus citrinopileatus Singer, which is treated as a subspecies of P. cornucopiae (Paul, ex Pers.) Rolland by some authors, is attacked by larvae of the phorid fly Megaselia tamilnaduensis Disney sp. n. The larvae feed on the mycelium. When more than 3% of the area of the surface of 2.5 kg cylindrical mushroom beds had been damaged the subsequent yields of sporophores fell from 400–500 g to 200–350 g. The new species is described and biological data are summarized.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

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