Lesser queensland fruit fly

Description
Egg
The eggs of B. oleae are described in detail by Margaritis, and those of other species are probably very similar. Size, 0.8 mm long, 0.2 mm wide, with the micropyle protruding slightly at the anterior end. The chorion is reticulate (requires scanning electron microscope examination). White to yellow-white in colour.

Larvae
Tha larvae are 7-9.5 mm long. Their features are similar to other species in the region (for example, B. tryoni), and identification is therefore a specialist task.

Puparium
The puparium is barrel-shaped with most larval features being unrecognizable, with the exception of the anterior and posterior spiracles which are little changed by pupariation. White to yellow-brown in colour. Size is approximately 60-80% the length of the larva.

Adult
The genus Bactrocera belongs to the family Tephritidae, which is part of the superfamily Tephritoidea. As with most species of Tephritoidea, B. neohumeralis has patterned wings, and the female has a long telescopic and pointed ovipositor; these features are hardly known outside the Tephritoidea. The family Tephritidae may also be separated from all other Diptera by the presence of setulae along the dorsal side of vein R1, and the shape of the subcostal vein, which bends abruptly through a right-angle and fades to a fold before reaching the wing edge. At the wing base, Bactrocera and Dacus species have a very deep cell bm and a very long pointed extension of cell bcu (= cup). The genus Bactrocera, is separated from Dacus, by the terga (dorsal sclerites of the abdomen) not being fused into a single sclerotized plate.
As with most species in or close to the subgenus Bactrocera, the scutum has both anterior supra-alar setae and prescutellar acrostichal setae; there are two setae (apical pair) on the margin of the scutellum. The males have a deep V-shaped notch in the fifth sternite and a pecten (comb of setae) on each side of the third abdominal tergite.
Within the subgenus Bactrocera B. neohumeralis belongs to a species group known as the B. tryoni species group (see key by Drew, 1989), which can be identified by the costal band colouration being extended basally to include the two basal costal cells (cells bc and c). In this group cell c is also unusual completely covered in microtrichiae, and the scutum is red-brown. Within the B. tryoni species group, B. neohumeralis can be recognized by its entirely dark postpronotal lobesm, which are the same colour as the scutum.