A study of the biology of Lipara Meigen 1830 flies inhabiting the apical part of stems of Phragmites australis Trinius ex Steudel 1841

1. Introduction 11

2. Materials and methods 14

3. The host plant Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., 1841 27

4. The life cycle of Lipara Meigen, 1830 flies 32
4.1 Egg-laying 35
4.2 Larval etology and structure of galls 49
4.2.1 First-instar larvae 49
4.2.2 Second-instar larvae 52
4.2.2.1 General characteristics 52
4.2.2.2 L. lucens Meigen, 1830 57
4.2.2.3 L. similis Schiner, 1854 59
4.2.2.4 L. rufitarsis Loew, 1858 59
4.2.2.5 L. pullitarsis Doskočil & Chvála, 1971 60
4.2.3 Third-instar larvae 60
4.2.3.1 General characteristics 60
4.2.3.2 L. lucens 62
4.2.3.3 L. similis 65
4.2.3.4 L. rufitarsis 68
4.2.3.5 L. pullitarsis 70
4.2.4 Summary of findings 71
4.3 Pupae, empty puparia and imagines 72

5. The number of Lipara larvae in individual stems 73
5.1 Two Lipara larvae 73
5.2 More than two Lipara larvae 78
5.3 Summary of findings 80

6. Third-instar larvae, pupae and empty puparia in atypical galls 84
6.1 L. rufitarsis in a lucens-type gall 84
6.2 L. rufitarsis in a similis-type gall 87
6.3 L. pullitarsis in a lucens-type gall 89
6.4 L. pullitarsis in a similis-type gall 89

7. Inquillines 92

8. Analysis of results and discussion 93
8.1 Life cycle 93
8.2 Egg-laying 94
8.3 Larval etology, gall structure 97
8.4 Two or more Lipara larvae in one reed stem / Lipara species in non-typical galls 105
8.5 Lipara as sympatric species 107
8.6 Protection of common reed against herbivores 108
8.7 The efficacy of the action of monophagous insect species on common reed stems as an opportunity for targeted management of common reed resources under integrated pest management program (IPM) 110

9. Summary 113

10. References 115

11. List of tables 121

12. List of figures 123