Distinguishing characters of eggs of two major shootfly species, Atherigona soccata Rondani and Atherigona naqvii Steyskal

Two major shootfly species viz., Atherigona soccata Rondani and Atherigona naqvii Steyskal produce similar type of dead hearts. The difficulty in identification of shootfly species on the basis of type of damage can be overcome by the distinguishing characters of their eggs and site of oviposition. In the case of A. soccata, the egg is elongated with hexagonal sculpture giving an appearence of reticulation; whereas the egg of A. naqvii is cylindrical in shape and marked by reverse dichotomous lining somewhat parallel running longitudinally from one end to the other. The eggs of A. soccata are laid singly on the underside of sorghum leaf almost parallel to mid rib, whereas A. naqvii lays eggs either in soil in cracks or eravices around maize seedlings or at the base of stem/under surface of lower leaves of other cerals.