Bulletin of Entomological Research (1995) 85, 515-518

S. Mohan, S. Mohan and R.H.L. Disney (1995)
A new species of scuttle fly (Diptera: Phoridae) that is a pest of oyster mushrooms (Agaricales: Pleurotaceae) in India
Bulletin of Entomological Research 85 (4), 515-518
Abstract: In south India the cultivated oyster mushroom Pleurotus citrinopileatus Singer, which is treated as a subspecies of P. cornucopiae (Paul, ex Pers.) Rolland by some authors, is attacked by larvae of the phorid fly Megaselia tamilnaduensis Disney sp. n. The larvae feed on the mycelium. When more than 3% of the area of the surface of 2.5 kg cylindrical mushroom beds had been damaged the subsequent yields of sporophores fell from 400-500 g to 200-350 g. The new species is described and biological data are summarized.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): R. Henry L. Disney

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Megaselia tamilnaduensis	Pleurotus (crop)	India