First record of the pest Bradysia impatiens (Diptera: Sciaridae) and overview of Bradysia species in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Certain species of the sciarid genus Bradysia are notorious pests on cultivated crops and mushrooms causing huge economic losses worldwide. Herein, B. impatiens (Johannsen) is reported for the first time in Taiwan, and the second injury record on Auricularia polytricha (Mont.) Sacc. (edible mushroom). The economic impact, host spectrum, distribution, occurrence, and life span of B. impatiens are reviewed. In addition, nine Taiwanese Bradysia species are overviewed based on the current taxonomic status and literature published so far.

KEYWORDS:

• Black fungus gnats
• oriental region
• product
• taxonomy
• wood ear fungus

Acknowledgments

We would also like to thank Ms. Yalin Chu for her assistance with insect rearing and related analyses. We are grateful to Dr. Man-Miao Yang (National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan) for providing equipment for specimen examination and photograph, to Dr. Jhih-Rong Liao (National Taiwan University, Taiwan), Yi-Chang Liao (University of California, Riverside, USA), and Dr. Cheng-Lung Tsai (National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan) for their valuable comments on earlier drift, to Dr. Frank Menzel (Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institiut, Germany) for he’s taxonomy comments on the manuscript, and to Robert Baird (University of Edinburgh, UK) for manuscript English corrections.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Shu-Chen Chang and Sheng-Feng Lin. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shu-Chen Chang and Sheng-Feng Lin. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Council of Agriculture Executive Yuan [grant numbers: 107AS-8.4.2-CI-C2].