The Wharton Lab

Opius (Bellopius) bellus was at one time placed in the genus Desmiostoma. (See discussion under the Bellopius page.) Opius bellus is the type species of Bellopius.

Opius gomesi Costa Lima, 1938 is a synonym of bellus (Wharton and Marsh 1978).
Opius turicai Blanchard, 1966 is also a synonym of bellus (Wharton and Marsh 1978; Ovruski et al. 2005).

Opius bellus is characterized by the presence of (RS+M)b in the fore wing, a broad stigma, concealed labrum, complete absence of notaulus, complete or nearly complete absence of sternaulus, and absence of an occipital carina. The color pattern of the mesoscutum is variable: often with black markings but sometimes completely lacking them.

Opius bellus is closely related to Opius (Bellopius) hirtus Fischer, but the head is dark in hirtus. Opius bellus and related species are characterized by a strong median carina on the propodeum (Fig. 4) relative to some of the other species currently placed in Bellopius.

Native hosts include several species of Anastrepha: A. fraterculus, A. montei, A. obliqua, and A. serpentina. It has also been reared from medfly, Ceratitis capitata. For additional summaries, see Wharton and Marsh (1978), Ovruski et al. (2000), and Ovruski et al. (2005).

Natural occurrence and abundance/population fluctuations: Canal-Daza et al. (1994); Canal-Daza et al. (1996); Aguiar-Menezes and Menezes (1997); Aguiar-Menezes and Menezes (2001)

This page was assembled largely by Bob Wharton. It is part of a revision of New World, mostly neotropical, opiines reared from Tephritidae conducted by Condon et al. (2014) and Wharton and Norrbom (2013). We are particularly grateful to Andrea Walker, Patricia Mullins, Trent Hawkins, Danielle Restuccia, and Lauren Ward who did all of the imaging. Matt Yoder and Istvan Miko provided guidance on databasing issues associated with our use of mx and HAO respectively. We thank Paul Marsh and Bob Kula (USDA/SEL and USNM) for facilitating loans and general assistance associated with examination of holotypes and other material in his care. This work was supported partly by NSF DEB 0949027, with REU supplement 1313933 (to Wharton) and partly by NSF/PEET DEB 0328922 (also to Wharton). This project was also supported in part by a contract from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Page last updated March, 2015. The material on this page is freely available, but should be acknowledged if used elsewhere.

This material is based upon work at Texas A&M University supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers DEB 0949027 and DEB 0328922 with REU supplement 1313933. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.