Table Of Content©EntomologicaFennica. 15December2010
Egg morphology of Mydaea Iateritia (Rondani, 1866)
(Diptera: Muscidae)
Andrzej Grzywacz& ThomasPape
Grzywacz,A. &Pape,T. 2010: EggmorphologyofMydaealateritia(Rondani,
1866) (Diptera: Muscidae).—Entomol. Fennica21: 187—192.
Several specimens ofMydaea lateritia (Rondani, 1866) were collected during
studiesofarthropodsuccessiononpigcarrionsinwesternPoland.Thisisthefirst
recordofthis speciesinPolandandthenorthernmostoccurrenceofthespecies.
ScanningelectronmicroscopydocumentationofeggmorphologyofM. lateritia
is presented for the first time. Hexagonal chorionic network, foliate hatching
pleats, shortlateralrespiratoryhorns, dorsomedianflangeandmedianareawith
smoothhexagonalnetworkandcratersaredescribed.Theeggcouldbeclassified
asMydaea-typewith shortrespiratoryhorns.
A. Grzywacz,DepartmentofAnimalEcology,InstituteofEcologyandEnviron—
mentalProtection, NicolausCopernicus University, Gagarina9, 87—100Torun,
Poland;E—mail.‘ [email protected]
T.Pape,ZoologicalMuseum, UniversityofCopenhagen, UniversitetsparkenI5,
2100 Copenhagen, Denmark;E—mail.‘ [email protected]
Received3February2010, accepted14April2010
1. Introduction foliaceoushatchingpleatsareknownasPhaonia-
type or ‘simple flangedtype’, andthosewithout
The genus Mydaea Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 suchhatchingpleatsareknownasMusca-typeor
currently contains 108 species (Bisby et al. ‘unflangedtype’ (Hinton 1960, Skidmore 1985,
2009). Ofthese, 20 are recorded as occurring in Ferrar 1987). Eggs ofmost Mydaeinae genera
Europe (Pont 2004) and 10 in Poland (Draber— and some Coenosiinae (Limnoplzora Robineau-
Monko2007).Mydaealateritia(Rondani, 1866) Desvoidy and Lispe Latreille of the Limo-
was originally described from Italy, and for al- phorini) are classified as a modification ofthe
mostacenturyitwasknownonlyfromItalyand Phaonia-type, with elongated hatching pleats
France(Hennig 1956). which sometimes form a long respiratory horn
Recently it was recorded from Bulgaria, anterodorsally (Skidmore 1985, Ferrar 1987).
France,Germany,Greece,Hungary,Italy,Slove- The respiratory horns have evolved independ-
niaandSpain(Pont2004), andwithits eastward entlyinvarious insectfamiliesandaretreatedas
limitofdistributionatIraq(Gregoretal.2002).A an adaptation for oviposition under water or in
yellowabdomenandpredominantlyyellowtho- wet orwaterlogged habitats (Hinton 1969). Be-
rax will allow the identification ofM. lateritia sides inMydaea-typeeggs, respiratoryhorns are
adultsamongotherMydaeaspeciesfromCentral foundinMuscidaealsoinsomeMuscaLinnaeus.
Europe(Gregoretal. 2002). Themainaimofthispaperistodescribe,doc-
Eggs of Muscidae have traditionally been umentanddiscussthemorphology ofthe egg of
classifiedintwomaingroups. Eggswithbroadly M. lateritia.
188 Grzywacz&Pape - ENTOMOL. FENNICAVol. 21
?mm 3mm
12 14
WD WD
00pm 00pm
1 1
X90 X70
2 i
0 C:
r» r-
SEI SEI
Fig. 1. EggofMydaealateritia.—a. Lateralview.—b. Dorsalview.—c. Hexagonal patternwithsmoothbound-
ariesofmedianareanearapex.—d. Marginofoutersurfaceofdorsalflange.—e. Chorion hexagonal pattern
withelevated boundaries.
2. Material and methods Alder forest 4.XI.2006, Q; 24.X.2007, Q;
29.X.2007, 3QQ; 11.XI.2007, E2;
In2006and2007,alarge-scaleexperimentonar- Hornbeam—oakforest7.XI.2006, 9.
thropodsuccessionondecomposingpigcarrions ReferencespecimensaredepositedintheDe-
wasundertaken. Theresearchwas carriedout in partmentofAnimalEcology,Nicolaus Coperni-
theBiedruskomilitaryrangelocalizedinwestern cus University, Poland. Eggs were obtained by
Poland(52°31’N, 16°54’E;UTM: XU22).Into- dissectionfromtheabdomenofadultfemaleflies
tal36deadpigsweredeployed inthreedifferent andpreservedin70% ethanol.
habitats (pine-oak, hombeam—oak and alder fo- Eggs(n=3)werepreparedforSEMbyclean-
rest)inspring,summerandautumn.Adultinsects ingwithafinebrush,dehydrationthrough80, 90
were collected using an aerial sweep net. For a and 99.5% ethanol, critical-point drying in CO2
fulldescriptionoftheexperiment,seeMatuszew- and coating with platinum. SEM images were
skieta1. (2010). Duringtwoyearsoftheexperi- taken with a Jeol Scanning Microscope JSM-
ment, 12 adult female specimens ofM. lateritia 6335F in the Zoological Museum, University of
werecollected(leg. S. Matuszewski&D. Bajer- Copenhagen.Forlightmicroscopy, material(n=
lein): 5) was stainedwith 1% ofpotassiumpermanga-
Pine-oak forest 22.X.2006, Q; 21.IX.2007, natesolution(Sukontasoneta]. 2004). Thepho-
Q; 4.XI.2007, 29E2; 11.XI.2007, E2; tographwastakenwithadigitalNikon8400cam-
ENTOMOL. FENNICAVol. 21 - EggmorphologyofMydaea lateritia 189
10.8mm
WD
1U,uln—
X300
7.0kV
SEI
7.0kV X1300 lOwn WD11.8mm
Luu 'VLGM u
"a
u .
7.IJkV X700 10an WDMflmm
Fig.2. EggofMydaealateritia.—a. Lateralviewofanteriorpart;m: micropyle.—b. Dorsalviewofanteriorpart.
—c.Apical partofdorsalflange.—d. Baseofmedianflange.
era mounted on a Nikon Eclipse E200 micro- Medianrespiratoryhorndevelopedattheanterior
scope. Terminology follows Hinton (1981), eggpoleasashort,collar-likeflangewithnumer-
Skidmore(1985) andFerrar(1987). ouspapillae(Fig.2b).Thefoliatehatchingpleats
projectbeyondapexasmuchasthedorsomedian
flange,therebyformingtwoalmostparallel-sided
3. Egg morphology bands (Figs 2a, b). Inner surface of hatching
pleats,papillaeontheirmarginandmedianflange
Egg creamy white, elongated, rounded at both withplastronnetwork(Figs2c, d). Inner surface
ends(Figs 1a,b,2a). Hatchingpleatsbroadlyfo- ofbroadenedhatchingpleatswithhexagonalpat-
liatethroughout, attachedtothedorsolateralsur- tern(Fig. 3).
faceoftheeggandfoldinginwardssoastoalmost Ahexagonalpatternonthechoriononentire
meet medially halfway between the poles (Fig. lateral andventral surface with elevated bound-
1b). Pleats denticulate along the entire margin, aries,contrastingtotheoutersurfaceofthehatch-
withmore distinctpapillae in anteriorpart (Figs ingpleats, which are almost smooth (Figs 1a, b,
2a—c), lateralrespiratoryhornsshort(Figs 1a,b). e). Dorsomedian area with smooth hexagonal
190 Grzywacz&Pape - ENTOMOL. FENNICAVol. 21
network andcraters more distinct along first 0.1
mm ofanterior part (Figs 1b, c, 2b). Micropyle
behind and below the median flange at the egg
apex(Fig. 2b), the chorionic hexagonal network
reachesthemicropyle.
4. Discussion
Apart from Hinton (1981), who described the
eggs of several Muscidae using SEM, this
methodwasusedonlyrecentlyfordifferentiating
eggs offorensically importantMuscidae. Exam-
ples are Synthesiomya nudiseta (van der Wulp)
(Alencar&Leite 1992),Muscinalevida (Harris)
(Liu & Greenberg 1989), M. stabulans (Fallen)
(Liu& Greenberg 1989; Alencar&Leite 1992),
and Hydrotaea (ZOphyra) aenescens (Wiede-
mann) (Mendonca et a]. 2008). Description of
egg morphology ofM. lateritia is presented for
thefirsttimeinthepresentpaper. Withinspecies
ofMydaea, SEM eggdatais otherwise available
onlyforM. corni(Scopoli) andM. urbana(Mei-
gen) (Hinton 1969, 1981).
In eggs obtained by dissection from the fe-
maleabdomen,thedorsalflangesareoftenpoorly
visiblebecausetheyarewrappedaroundtheegg Fig.3. Egg
ofMydaea
(Ferrar 1987). Probably duringpassage through
lateritia
the ovipositor, flanges fold outwards (Ferrar
(dorsalsur-
1987). Very similar egg shell, shape and size of facewith
flanges were described previously for M. corni viewofin-
(Hinton 1981).However, figuresoftheeggofM. nersurface
cornipresentedbyHammer(1941, asM.pagana ofbroad-
(Fabricius)) and Skidmore(1985) differslightly, ened
especiallyintheproportionsoflateralanddorso- hatching
median flanges. In the figures presented by pleat).
Skidmore(1985,fig.98a),thehatchingpleatsex-
tendfurtherbeyondtheeggapexandaremoreta-
pering.TheeggshellofM. lateritiaismoresimi- The hexagonal pattern of the exochorion
lartothefigureofM. corm'presentedbyHammer foundinM. lateritia (imprints fromthematernal
(1941, fig. 26b). follicular cells) has not previously been docu-
TheeggsofM. lateritiaandM. urbanadiffer mentedforotherspeciesofMydaea.Ahexagonal
markedly in the size of the respiratory horns, network with elevated boundaries is present in
whichinM. urbanaprojectbeyondtheeggapex speciesofothermuscidgenera, e.g.,AzeliaRobi-
asthreelong, taperingprocesses(Hammer 1941, neau-Desvoidy,Hebecnema andHydrotaeaRo-
Skidmore 1985). Hinton (1969, 1981) published bineau-Desvoidy (Hinton 1981), Eginia Robi-
a SEM-based description of the structure of neau-Desvoidy (Michelsen 2006), and it occurs
papillae on the respiratory horn ofM. urbana, in most other calyptrate families, e.g., Antho-
which is very similar to that ofM. lateritia pre- myiidae(Ferrar 1987; Gaponov2003), Callipho-
sentedinthispaper. ridae(Ferrar 1987,Erzinclioglu1989,Mendonca
ENTOMOL. FENNICAVol. 21 ° EggmorphologyofMydaea lateritia 191
et al. 2008), Rhinophoridae (Draber—Mor'iko supportedbytheMinistryofScience andHigherEduca—
1997),Tachinidae(Ferrar 1987,Gaponov2004). tion(grantNo. 2P04C10429), andDr. V. Michelsen for
verificationofourspeciesidentification. WorkinCopen-
Thehexagonalpattern intheMusca-type egg of hagenwassupportedbyagrantfromtheEuropeanCom—
H. aenescens has less distinctboundaries (Men- mission’s (FP6) Integrated Infrastructure Initiative pro-
doncaetal.2008). ThePhaonia-typeeggofMu— grammeSYNTHESYS(DK—TAF).
scina levida andM. stabulans have longitudinal
ridges andapolygonalpatternlimitedtotheme- References
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