Department of Entomology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar - 125004, Haryana, (India).
The investigation on different juvenile and image stages of pigeonpea pod fly, Melanagromyza obtusa (Malloch.) occurring under agroclimatic conditions of Haryana (India), revealed that their morphometries and distinct morphological characters are useful to identify the species easily. The eggs were somewhat conical with an average length of 0.56 ± 0.08 mm and width 0.13 ± 0.02 mm. The three instars constituting the larval stage can be differentiated on the basis of their body size, structure of cephalopharyngeal skeleton, nature of anterior and posterior spiracles with varied number of bulbs. The pupae were coarctate type, longer than the adult flies. The female flies were comparatively larger in size (2.62 ± 0.14 mm) than the males (2.33 ± 0.06 mm), with smaller head length (0.04 ± 0.02 mm, ♀ & 0.53 ± 0.04 mm, ♂) and widely separated eyes. Different life stages have been illustrated and a key has been constructed for diagnostic identification of different instars of damaging stage of M. obtusa.
