Domain:       Eukaryota

Kingdom:     Animalia

Phylum:        Arthropoda

Class:            Insecta

Order:          Diptera

Family:         Muscidae

Genus:          Atherigona

Species:        A. oryzae Binomial

Name:          Atherigona oryzae (Malloch)

 Restricted. Asia, Africa (Seychelles), Oceania. It is recorded from Australia, Federated States of Micronesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, and South Korea [4].

Host Range
Rice, maize, sorghum, wheat and many wild grasses.

• Eggs: Eggs on leaf blades singly or in groups.
• Maggots: Yellowish, 9 mm long, pupate in plant base or in soil.
• Adults: 3-3.5 mm long, black head and thorax, yellow abdomen, 2-3 pairs black spots on the back. Spreads on the wing; strong flyer. Face and gena greyish; palpus yellow, brownish at base; male palpus short, club-like and yellow; legs yellow to fulvous-yellow except for a narrow preapical brown band on fore femur, fore tibia darker apically; wing with a faint small brownish cloud at apex of subcosta, smaller or totally absent in female; male with hypopygial prominence large, bifurcate, V-shaped; trifoliate process with stalk very long and expanded medially, lateral plates without inner lobe; median piece a little expanded at apex. Female sternite 6 some 1.5 times as long as broad; tergite 8 and sternite 7 [5].

Another species, Atherigona exigua, of unknown host, has been confused with the rice shoot fly. Atherigona oryzae is the only species known to attack rice.

A. oryzae is a pest of seedlings, primarily of rice and maize, and its impact is frequently severe. The larva cuts through the growing point of the seedling, commonly resulting in death of the host; less severely damaged plants may recover, but maturity is delayed and yield is reduced.

The maggots damage upland rice and the (dry) nurseries of lowland flooded rice. Seedlings attacked: leaves ragged, discolored, with damaged margins; stems bored by maggots, killing the shoots and causing ‘deadheart’ symptoms (like those caused by stem borers). The seedling dies or survives by the production of tillers. Seedlings become resistant to attack after they have produced 5-6 leaves. Eggs are white, darkening near the time of maturity, elongate, 1.25 mm long, laid on the leaf blades of seedlings, singly or in groups. Eggs hatch and maggots use dew drops to descend to the base of the leaf sheath where they tunnel into the tillers with their strong mouth hooks. Larvae grow to 9 mm, and are creamy-white becoming yellow with age. Pupation occurs at the base of the plant or in the soil. Pupae are contained in the last larval skin; they are reddish-brown, and about 4 mm long. The adult is a small, yellowish-gray fly, mostly 3-3.5 mm in length, with black head and thorax, and yellow abdomen with two to three pairs of black spots on the back. The life cycle is from 15 to more than 30 days depending on the location; in the humid tropics, the average time is 25 days. Spread is on the wing; the adult is a strong flyer

Atherigona oryzae infests both upland and lowland rice. It is a chronic pest of dryland rice in the Philippines. It also attacks young maize seedlings that are 2–5 days old. A serious pest of upland rice and maize, attacking seedlings up to 4 weeks old. Damage is worse in the wet season. In Mindanao, Philippines, losses of 6% were recorded from 1985-1990 in the seedling stage. Severely attacked fields have many missing plants. Plants may recover from attack, but tiller density is reduced, spikelets per panicle are fewer, crop maturity is delayed, and yields reduced.

A. oryzae infests both upland and lowland rice, attacking seedlings up to 2-4, rarely 8, weeks old. It is one of the chronic pests of dryland rice in the Philippines. Young maize seedlings (2- to 5-day old) are attacked. Infestation levels of up to 80%, or even 100%, have been recorded at the height of the wet season. Maggots were observed in wheat 9 days after seedling emergence. A. oryzae can be one of the most destructive pests of rice and maize in some areas.

 Look for the egg masses on the leaves of seedlings. Look for the dead hearts, and open the tillers to check for maggots. However, because there are several species with similar characteristics, specimens should be examined by a taxonomist familiar with the genus. Identifications are based on the male sex organs.

They cause the following symptoms in attacked seedlings:

1. Ragged, discolored leaves with damaged margins
2. Bored stems, Plants/Stems/internal feeding
3. Deadheart symptoms

No information

Countries not yet infested by the rice shoot fly should consider all likely pathways for entry, and apply quarantine measures accordingly. It is a major pest of rice, in particular. Many countries throughout Africa, the Americas and also Oceania are at risk. Pathways of introduction are likely to be via produce contaminated by pieces of stem of the hosts infested with larvae or pupae.

Early planting and overseeding are cultural controls for the rice seedling maggot. Two cultural control methods, early planting and overseeding, were evaluated separately in the Philippines and yielded positive results [1].

The rice-maize-rice-maize crop pattern practised by many farmers through alternating wet-dry periods favours the build-up of fly populations. The incidence of A. oryzae can be reduced by early sowing, when the weather is relatively dry for the development of the fly (Soenardi, 1967; Chu, 1980; Garg, 1985) or by very late sowing (Shepard et al., 1995; Reissig et al., 1986). Flooding the rice crop occasionally, or on a weekly basis, may reduce incidence. Where this is not possible, fertilizer can be used to stimulate the formation of new shoots.Intercropping rice with maize has been recommended in Java, sowing maize in every fifth row of the rice field 2 weeks before the rice harvest (Chu, 1980).

Before planting: Sow when the weather is relatively dry (in many countries this is very early in the season or very late). The fly is seasonal, passing the dry times in dormancy. Therefore, it can be avoided by adjusting the planting time. Increase the seedling rate to compensate for loss of tillers due to deadhearts. Where farmers follow a rice-maize rotation, plant rice as early as possible after planting maize (one month or less), with rates of 90-120 kg seed/ha rice.

During growth: Flood the crop occasionally to reduce the incidence of the shoot fly. If flooding is not possible, apply nitrogen fertilizer to promote recovery of the damaged plants.

Cultural control: early (or late) sowing, i.e., when relatively dry; increase seeding rate; where rice-maize rotation, plant rice (90-120 kg/ha) 1 month or less after maize; apply N to promote recovery of damaged plants

Trichogramma species parasitise the eggs, and Opius species (Braconid wasps) parasitise the larvae. Many kinds of Spiders prey on adults.

It is unlikely that chemical treatments would be economic for upland farmers, and are not recommended.

Insecticides: The use of insecticides as a seed treatment for A. oryzae may be justified if the crop is planted during the period of peak infestation. However, granules are not recommended because of the need for high doses. Treatment with insecticide reduced levels of infestation, increased plant height and caused a seven-fold increase in yield (Soenardi, 1967).Foliar dusting or spraying is the only practical method to control A. oryzae after the rice has been planted. This method is limited by practical difficulties including the need for high application rates; several applications are necessary, and the first must be within 1 week of crop emergence (Reissig et al., 1986). Foliar dusting or spraying is generally applied in maize fields when the plants begin to germinate, and further applications are carried out at intervals of 2-3 days (Chu, 1980).

No information found

No varieties have been bred successfully for resistance. There are no commercially available rice varieties which are resistant to A. oryzae (Reissig et al., 1986), though screening was carried out in the Philippines (Heinrichs et al., 1985). Maize genotypes were screened in India for resistance to A. oryzae (Shah and Garg, 1991).

No information found

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713867838
2. https://plantwiseplusknowledgebank.org/doi/10.1079/PWKB.Species.7732
3. https://apps.lucidcentral.org/ppp/text/web_full/entities/rice_shoot_fly_413.htm
4. Suh, S. J. and Y. J. Kwon. 2017. First record of the quarantine pest Atherigona (Atherigona) oryzae Malloch (Diptera: Muscidae) in Korea. Entomological Research DOI: 1111/1748-5967.12261. Last accessed December 21, 2017, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-5967.12261/full. https://iapps2010.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/atherigona-oryzae-first-report-in-south-korea/
5. COURI, M. S., PONT, A. C., & DAUGERON, C. (2010). The Muscidae (Diptera) of Vanuatu. In Zootaxa (Vol. 2556, Issue 1, p. 1). Magnolia Press. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2556.1.1