On the Occurrence of Bistrispinaria, Grass-breeding Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Kenya, with an Addition to the Tephritid Checklist of Kakamega Forest.

Abstract

Identification of specimens from Malaise trap collections and rearings of tephritids from native and cereal grasses confirm the presence in Kenya of Bistrispinaria magniceps, B. fortis, and B. woodi, of which the latter two species are recorded for the first time. Including an earlier, but uncertain, record of B. atlas, all four species of Bistrispinaria, the only genus of Tephritidae in the Afrotropical region known to breed in grass stems, have now been recorded from Kenya. Information is provided on the hosts of B. fortis and B. magniceps. Neither the spatial nor temporal distribution of B. magniceps in its primary host, Panicum maximum, was uniform. Bistripinaria species were collected in about 50% of Malaise trap samples from grassland and relict woodland habitats. Malaise traps were a cost effective and logistically simple way to survey for the presence of this uncommon genus. An overlooked literature record of B. magniceps adds another species to the tephritid fauna of the Kakamega Forest, Kenya, reported previously, and brings the total to 136.