Two new species of Dactylasioptera (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) inducing stem galls on Maireana (Chenopodiaceae)

Two new species of gall midges of the genus Dactylasioptera Kolesik & Veenstra-Quah, (Lasiopteridi: Lasiopterini) are described from hairy stem tip galls on Maireana (Chenopodiaceae) in southern Australia. Dactylasioptera lebelae sp. nov. Veenstra & Kolesik, 2018 causes galls on Maireana pyramidata ranging from filamentous to spheroid. Dactylasioptera milnae sp. nov. Veenstra & Kolesik, 2018 causes rosette shaped, leafy galls on Maireana brevifolia. Descriptions of larvae, pupae, male and female adults, as well as geographical distributions of the new gall midges are given. The two species differ from each other in the larval, pupal and adult morphology as well as in mtDNA sequence data (COI). Galls of both species contained fungal mycelium and inquiline wasps Megastigmus sp. (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) and Aprostocetus sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae). The new species are the first confirmed gall makers from the Australian genus Dactylasioptera that contained previously two described species: Dactylasioptera adentata Kolesik & Veenstra-Quah, and Dactylasioptera dentata Kolesik & Veenstra-Quah, 2018, both of which are likely inquilines reared from galls induced by Asphondylia spp. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on chenopod host plants. A matrix of morphological characters of Dactylasioptera species is given.