Lycoriella sativae

Lycoriella sativae (Johannsen, 1912)

(Fig. 6 A–D)

Sciara sativae Johannsen, 1912 [Johannsen (1912): 133, figs 120, 240]. Common synonyms: Lycoriella agarici (Loudon, 1978); Lycoriella castanescens (Lengersdorf, 1940); Lycoriella fucorum (Frey, 1948).

= Sciara auberti Séguy, 1940 syn. n. [Séguy (1940): 211–212, figs 2–5].

Séguy described a male and a female collected by E. Aubert in March 1931 from Port Jeanne-d´Arc in the Kerguelen Islands. The short gonostylus with 4 spines in the middle of the inner side (fig. 3) is consistent with L. sativae. It is a junior synonym of that species. The deposition of the type was not mentioned by the author. Perhaps it is deposited in Paris.

= Sciara jeanneli Séguy, 1940 syn. n. [Séguy (1940): 210–211, fig. 1].

The species was described on the basis of two females collected on 6.ii.1939 from the South-east region, Golfe du Morbiham, Port Jeanne-dÀrc, in the Kerguelen Islands. we have not studied this species but we believe that the wing venation and body size (1.75 mm, as in Sciara auberti) is consistent with L. sativae and so Sciara jeanneli is a junior synonym too. The deposition of the type was not mentioned by the author.

= Sciara solispina Hardy, 1956 syn. n. [Hardy (1956): 84 –85, fig. 9a–c].

= Lycoriella solispina (Hardy, 1956) syn. n. [Steffan (1973a): 358].

This species was described on the basis of a male collected by D.E. Hardy in October 1952 from Kaula Gulch, on the north slopes of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at 7000 ft. The holotype is deposited in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (slide 2489). we have examined this specimen and it is identical to L. sativae.

Literature: Frey (1948): 60, 80, fig. 68 (as Lycoriella (Chaetosciara) fucorum); Loudon (1978): 163, figs 1–8 (as Lycoriella agarici); Tuomikoski (1960): 82, 88, figs 17 g, 18 d, 20 d; Freeman (1983): 31, figs 93, 102; (both as Lycoriella auripila); Menzel & Mohrig (2000): 386–389, figs 353–355 (as Lycoriella castanescens); Mohrig et al. (2013): 216–217, fig. 39 a–d.

Material studied. QUEENSLAND: 2 males, 24.x.1977, Southport, in mushroom compost (fungi-peat), ASCT 00050416/50417, leg. G. McCartney (ASCU).

NEW SOUTH WALES: 1 male, ix.1936, Sydney, mushroom beds, ASCT 00050462, unknown collector; 2 males, 19.vii.1977, Wilberforce, ex mushrooms, ASCT 00050432/50435, leg. A.D. Clift (ASCU); 3 males, 5.ix.1980, Rydalmere, around mushroom house, ASCT 00050379/50434/54496, leg. A.D. Clift (ASCU); 1 male, v.1980, Lake Tandau, near Menindee, in Lucerne, ASCT 00050431, leg. B. Dominiak; 2 males, 30.i.1980, Tolson’s Farm, Windsor, mushroom compost, ASCT 00050429/77126, leg. A.D. Clift; 1 male, 10.xi.1962, Rydalmere, ex glasshouse bean pots, ASCT 00050421, leg. F.A. Gibson; 1 male, MV light, 26.iv.1980, Alstonville, ASCT 00050420, leg. N.W. Cartwright; 2 males, vii.1980, Griffith, from miniature mushroom farms, ASCT 00050418/77123, unknown collectors; 5 males, 6.xi.1979, Johnston’s, Windsor, ex mushroom house, ASCT 00050393/50395/50411-50413, unknown collector; 3 males, 30.i.1980, Baker’s Farm vineyard, ex mushroom compost, ASCT 00050408-50410, leg. A.D. Clift; 1 male, rotating net trap, 2.xii.1978, Jerilderie, ASCT 00050407, leg. J. McGechan; 1 male, 6.xii.1978, Jerilderie, ASCT 00050406, leg. J. McGechan; 4 males, x.1981, Tamworth, ex mushroom compost, ASCT 00050386/50400-50402, leg. N. Forrester; 17 males, 12.xi.1981, Otford, ex mushroom tunnel farm, ASCT 00050398/50399/54494/54497-54503/77098-77104, leg. A.D. Clift; 1 male, MV light, 22.x.1979, Rydalmere, ASCT 00050380, leg. B.J. Loudon; 1 male, 29.iv.1978, Royal National Park, ASCT 00050385, leg. B.J. Loudon; 1 male, light trap, 12.ix.1978, Rydalmere, ASCT 00050378, unknown collector; 3 males, 19.iv.1977, Bathurst, ex mushroom farm, ASCT 00050394/54495/54835, leg. B.J. Loudon; 2 males, xi.1976, Windsor, ex mushroom farm, ASCT 00054469/77124, leg. B.J. Loudon; 2 males, 26.iv.1977, Bowral mushroom nursery, ASCT 00050389/54842, leg. B.J. Loudon; 2 males, xi.1981, Sydney, ex mushroom compost, ASCT 00050397/77122, leg. A.D. Clift; 1 male, 19.vii.1977, Wilberforce, ex mushrooms, ASCT 00050396, leg. A.D. Clift; 1 male, 22.iv.1980, Johnston’s, Windsor, ex mushroom farm, ASCT 00077125, unknown collector; 19 males, 31.vii.1978, Rydalmere, ASCT 00077077-77095, unknown collector (all in ASCU).

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY: 3 males, 27.xi.1979, Canberra, infesting cultivated mushrooms, ASCT00050381-50383, leg. B.J. Loudon; 1 male, 14.vii.1964, Canberra, ex soil under rotting Boletus, ASCT00050384, leg. D.H. Colless (all in ASCU).

VICTORIA: 5 males, xii.1979, Bundoora, Melbourne, ex mushroom compost, ASCT00050392/50403-50405/ 50419, leg. A.D. Clift (ASCU); 4 males, xi.2015, Twin River Drive, South Morang, Victoria, # 86, yellow pan trap in vegetable garden, leg. A. Broadley (PABM).

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 2 males, xi.1978, Adelaide, ex mushroom compost, ASCT00050414/50415, leg. A.D. Clift (ASCU).

TASMANIA: 1 male, 26.viii.1980, Lachlan, pasture pitfall trap, 82854, 85G4, 05(D), leg. J.E. Ireson (TAIC).

NORFOLK ISLAND: 3 males, 26.xi.2014, Culicoides light trap in trees, Anson Bay, #32, leg. A. Broadley; 3 males, 24.x.2013, yellow pans set near vegetables, #33 (AW-28), leg. A. Wells; 2 males, 23.x.2013, yellow pans pan traps set near vegetables, #34A (AW-17), leg. A. Wells. [Anonymous, 2015] (all in ANIC).

L. sativae was described from an open landscape (meadow). It is a common species in cultivated fields and diverse natural habitats but it is also a common pest in greenhouses and mushroom cultures, where it breeds en masse and is of considerable economic importance.

Diagnostic remarks. The species can easily be identified as belonging to Lycoriella s. str. because of the following characteristics: a horseshoe-shaped border of the tibial organ on the fore tibia, a 3-segmented palpus with a deep and dark sensory pit on the basal segment, a hypopygium with a few intergonocoxal bristles on the ventral base, gonostylus with an apical tooth, few spines and a long whiplash hair on the inner side. It differs from the other two pest species by having a rather short gonostylus, widened in the middle and somewhat flattened on the inner side. On the inner side there are 4 rather long hyaline spines located above the whiplash hair. Another good character is the presence of only a few bristles on the membranous basal part of the hypopygium (intergonocoxal space), in contrast to the densely haired intergonocoxal lobe of the other two species.

Economic importance. In the late 1970’s L. sativae (= L. agarici) was reported to cause about 15% crop loss to commercial mushrooms in New South Wales (Loudon 1978). More recently, Shamshad (2010) reported that on an average mushroom farm in Australia the cost of recommended control measures for sciarids accounts for about 0.5% of the value of the crop. In the UK, Freeman (1983) noted that this species had been “reared from birds’ nests and rotting vegetables, also recorded around houses, in greenhouses and mushroom houses where it may be a minor pest.” Also reported from Russia, attacking mushrooms grown under glass in Leningrad province (Gerbatchevskaya 1963).

Distribution. Holarctic; Australia, Norfolk Island, Subantarctic Islands; Hawaii.

Additional notes. Lycoriella sativae was first collected from mushroom beds in Sydney in 1936, according to the material that we have examined. It is interesting to note that protected mushroom production in Australia started in the 1930’s, when they were “grown mainly in sheds, cellars and in railway tunnels at Circular Quay, Glenbrook, Lithgow and Picton; under the pylons of Sydney Harbour Bridge; and in old brick kilns at Ryde” (Nair 1978). We found L. sativae to be the most common Lycoriella species in the BCRI material (see L. ingenua — Additional notes).