Back in July, I found a lovely little gall fly on a patch of common fleabane, and ID'd as Myopites apicatus (using diptera.info galleries).
I submited a record to irecord (not yet verified) and I have just noticed that the irecord listing displays M. inulaedysentericae as the recommended name. On the 'Dorset Nature' site, however, I found this coment on the M. apicatus page 'It is now agreed that the Myopites on Pulicaria dysenterica is Myopites apicatus and that M. inulaedysentericae only occurs on Inula hirta and I. salicina'.
Can anyone tell me whether these are just two names for the same species, or two different species? Is irecord correct?
Comments
In the current version of…
- Log in to post comments
In the current version of the UK Diptera checklist there is no mention of Myopites apicatus. iRecord uses names from the UK Species Inventory, which currently gives Myopites apicatus as a synonym of Myopites inulaedyssentericae.
Laurence Clemons is the expert in this group, and in his 2020 recording scheme update he says "Controversy exists as to whether the species which forms capitulum galls in Pulicaria dysenterica (L.) Bernh. (Magnoliidae, Asteraceae) is Myopites inulaedyssentericae Blot, 1827 or Myopites apicatus (Freidberg, 1980)."
So my suggestion would be to record it as Myopites inulaedyssentericae but to add a comment with the record to say that it was on Fleabane, so that if a species split does occur in future the record can be correctly allocated.