Diagnosis
Morphological – adult
Medium sized species. Features include:
- facial spots absent or small and pale
- postpronotal lobes yellow (anterolateral corners black)
- notopleura glossy black
- scutum glossy black, mesopleural stripe reaching to postpronotal lobe, lateral and medial postsutural vittae absent, scutellum glossy black
- wing with a narrow pale fuscous costal band and narrow fuscous tint in anal cell, narrow pale fuscous markings along r-m and dm-cu crossveins, cells bc and c colourless or with a very pale fuscous tint, microtrichia in outer corner of cell c only
- all abdominal terga entirely glossy black
- posterior lobe of male surstylus short
- female with aculeus tip needle shaped (Drew 1989; pers. comm. Drew 2010).
Morphological – larvae
See White and Elson-Harris 1992 p. 214.
Molecular
DNA barcoding
Diagnostic BOLD reference data available.
PCR-RFLP Test 1
BsrI: Data not available
HinfI: Data not available
HhaI: Data not available
Sau3AI: Data not available
SnaBI: Data not available
SspI: Data not available
Vspl: Data not available
PCR-RFLP Test 2
No fully diagnostic restriction enzymes, but a combination of several can be chosen to distinguish B. melanotus from other Bactrocera and species in other genera.
See Restriction enzyme haplotype chart and Diagnostic restriction patterns.