External eggshell morphology of Anastrepha fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Figueiredo J.V.A., Perondini A.L.P., Ruggiro EM., Prezotto LF. and Selivon D. (2011). External eggshell morphology of Anastrepha fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae). —Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 00:1–9. The eggshell external morphology of Anastrepha species of different taxonomic intrageneric groups was determined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The eggs of Anastrepha alveata Stone and A. consobrina (Loew) are described for the first time, and a more detailed description of previously studied eggs from A. amita Zucchi, A. pickeli Lima, A. bistrigata Bezzi, A. grandis (Macquart), A. obliqua (Macquart), A. pseudoparallela (Loew), A. striata Schiner, A. suspensa (Loew), and A. zenildae Zucchi is presented. Several relatively plastic morphological characters of the eggs were discerned, such as length, width, tapering, curvature, chorion ornamentation, respiratory lobes, and position of the micropyle. Scores were attributed to these characters, allowing a comparison of egg morphology among 17 species of Anastrepha. A cluster analysis based on these scores did not group the eggs according to the taxonomic intrageneric groups of the species. Nonetheless, this analysis indicated that the egg of each species can be described by a set of morphological scores. The possibility of species identificaton using immature stages will be of great help for the taxonomy of Anastrepha fruit flies.