Atherigona (Acritochaeta) yorki Deeming 1971

Atherigona (Acritochaeta) yorki Deeming 1971 (Fig. 45) Atherigona (Acritochaeta) yorki Deeming, 1971: 147. Specimens examined. 1m, 3f, Asir, Abha, Madenate Al-Ameer Sultan, Hay Al-Sad, 25.ii–25.v.2002, Malaise trap, H. A. Dawah (NMWC; CERS); 1m, same data but 19.vi.–9.vii.2013 (CERS); 2m, Asir, Maraba, Al-Hudaithy Fruit Farm, 1–30.v.2004, Malaise trap, H. A. Dawah (CERS); 1m, same data but 1–17.vi.2003 (NMWC). Distribution. This species was previously recorded for Saudi Arabia by Dawah & Abdullah (2009). It was described from Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Sudan. In Arabian Peninsula it was recorded from Yemen (Ba-angood & Hubaishan 1985). Biological remarks. Deeming (1971) reared this species from guinea corn shoots (S. bicolor), millet stems (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.), elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) shoots and maize. It has been recorded from millet as a parasitoid of pyralid moth caterpillars (i.e. Coniesta ignefusalis (Hampson) and Chilo zonellus (Swinhoe)). Also this species has been reported as a pest of introduced high-yielding cultivars of sorghum, but not the variety “Baini” (Ba-angood & Hubaishan 1985).
Published as part of Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, The Muscidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, descriptions of two new species, new records and updated list of species, pp. 1-54 in Zootaxa 4869 (1) on page 32, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4869.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4418246
{"references":["Deeming, J. C. (1971) Some species of Atherigona Rondani (Diptera: Muscidae) from Northern Nigeria, with special reference to those injurious to cereal crops. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 61, 133 - 190. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0007485300057527","Dawah, H. A. & Abdullah, M. A. (2009) The Muscidae (Diptera: Brachycera: Muscomorpha) of south-western Saudi Arabia. Fauna of Arabia, 24, 373 - 396.","Ba-angood, S. A. & Hubaishan, M. A. (1985) Effect of sowing date and cultivars of sorghum on infestation by Atherigona yorki, Sesamia cretica and Chilo partellus in Yemen. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge, 104, 61 - 66. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0021859600042982"]}