Hawaiian Picture-wing Fly

Drosophila aglaia was first recorded in 1946, on Mount Kaala on the island of Oahu, and described by Hardy (1965). D. aglaia is a small species, 0.15 inches (in) (4.0 millimeters (mm)) in length, with wings 0.2 in (5.0 mm) long. It has a yellow head that is approximately one-third wider than long. The eyes are brown, and the antennae are yellow, tinged with brown. The thorax is clear yellow with three broad brown stripes on the top, and the legs are yellow. The abdomen is brown with a large yellow spot on each of the hind corners. The wings are predominantly clear with irregular but characteristic brown markings, and are about two and three- quarter times longer than wide. Drosophila aglaia is restricted to the natural distribution of its host plant, Urera glabra (family Urticaceae), which is a small shrub-like endemic tree. The larvae of D. aglaia develop in the decomposing bark and stem of U. glabra. This plant does not form large stands, but is infrequently scattered throughout slopes and valley bottoms in mesic and wet forest habitat on Oahu. In the Waianae Mountains on the west side of Oahu, this tree occurs infrequently in mesic forest. The picture wing group is divided into four major subgroups based on maps of chromosomal inversions. D. aglaia is in the glabripex subgroup (Edwards et al. 2007).