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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Acalyptratae" » Tephritoidea » Fruit Flies (Tephritidae) » Tephritinae » Myopitini » Urophora

Genus Urophora

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited
Unwelcome Newcomer - Urophora quadrifasciata - male Fruit Fly - Urophora affinis - female Seedhead gall fly - Urophora quadrifasciata fly - Urophora quadrifasciata - male mystery fly - Urophora quadrifasciata Family Tephritidae - Fruit Flies Urophora affinis - Knapweed Gall Fly - Urophora affinis - female Rhagoletis - Urophora quadrifasciata Urophora cardui
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Acalyptratae")
Superfamily Tephritoidea
Family Tephritidae (Fruit Flies)
Subfamily Tephritinae
Tribe Myopitini
Genus Urophora
Explanation of Names
Urophora Robineau-Desvoidy 1830
Numbers
7 introduced spp. in our area, ~60 spp. total(1)

Urophora affinis (Frauenfeld, 1857)
Urophora cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)
Urophora jaceana (Hering, 1935)
Urophora quadrifasciata (Meigen, 1826)
Urophora sirunaseva (Hering, 1938)
Urophora solstitialis (Linaeus, 1758)
Urophora stylata (Fabricius, 1775)

Urophora jaculata was introduced to California in 1990's, but did not establish.
Identification
Only one other genus in the family has vein CuA2 straight or bowed out towards the wing tip.
Range
native to the Palaearctic (all the spp. but one occur there), introduced as weed biocontrol agents to NA(1)(2)
Life Cycle
Some (all?) spp. overwinter in galls as third instar larvae
Remarks
Several spp. have been introduced as biocontrols of non-native thistles and knapweeds (including the Yellow Starthistle Gall Fly, U. sirunaseva). U. kasachstanica & U. xanthippe are planned for release in w. US to control Russian knapweed(2)(3)
Works Cited
1.Norrbom A.L. (2004-2010) Fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) taxonomy pages
2.Biological control: A guide to natural enemies in North America
3.Breitenfeldt T., ed. (1999-) Montana war on weeds
Contributed by Martin Hauser on 4 August, 2006 - 8:18pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Vox Sciurorum, v belov, Spencer_pote
Last updated 8 September, 2021 - 7:25pm

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