New hypothesis of the tribal placement puzzle of Enigmadiplosis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), with description of a new pest species on Rhododendron (Ericaceae) in Japan

The monotypic genus Enigmadiplosis Harris (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) was placed in the tribe Clinodiplosini based on adult morphology, but the genus is somewhat puzzling because larvae are typical for the tribe Cecidomyiini. In this study, we describe Enigmadiplosis harrisi sp. nov., a pest species that damages young leaves of the ornamental shrub Rhododendron pulchrum in Mie Prefecture, Honshu, Japan. We also conducted a molecular phylogenetic analysis to confirm the tribal placement. The result clearly indicates that Enigmadiplosis belongs to Cecidomyiini and we therefore assign the genus to that tribe. In addition, we redescribe Clinodiplosis rhododendri (Felt) that forms leaf-roll galls on Rhododendron spp. in eastern North America to allay future questions as to the identity and show that this is unrelated to the new Japanese species.

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D2B4A731-271F-4A11-90BB-258725FB9F45