Diagnosis

Morphological – adult

Features include:

• head with arista plumose on dorsal surface, bare on ventral surface
• thorax with scutum mostly red-brown, 6 scutellar setae; scutellum flat and bare of microsetae
• legs with one strong apical spine on mid tibiae
• wing pattern as per Figure 98
• abdominal terga fulvous with transverse black patterns on terga III to V
• male surstylus short and thick
• female aculeus rounded and blunt at apex (pers. comm. Drew 2010).

Morphological – larvae

Information not available.

Molecular

Host Range

Dirioxa pornia attacks ripe, damaged and fallen fruit. It has been recorded on hosts from a wide range of families. These include:

• Anacardiaceae
• Annonaceae
• Araucariaceae
• Capparaceae
• Caricaceae
• Clusiaceae
• Combretaceae
• Curcurbitaceae
• Ebenaceae
• Euphorbiaceae
• Fabaceae
• Lauraceae
• Lecythidaceae
• Loganiaceae
• Moraceae
• Musaceae
• Myrtaceae
• Oleaceae
• Oxalidaceae
• Passifloraceae
• Proteaceae
• Rosaceae
• Rubiaceae
• Rutaceae
• Sapindaceae
• Sapotaceae
• Solanaceae
• Xanthophyllaceae

For a full list of recorded hosts see Hancock et al. 2000.

Major commercial hosts:

No major host fruits have been identified but has created occasional quarantine problems.

Distribution

Eastern Australia, from Iron Range, Cape York Peninsula, to southern New South Wales. Introduced to Perth, Western Australia (Hancock et al. 2000). Also in Northern Victoria.

Similar species

Similar to other Australian Trypetinae in having patterned wings, but is the only one associated with edible fruit, and has a distinct wing pattern. Exotic Trypetinae (Anastrepha and Rhagoletis) have very different wing patterns.

Pest Status

• Native

Attractant/Lure

Attracted to protein lures and orange ammonia. Occasionally detected at cue lure.