Opius bucki Costa Lima 1938

Nothing is known concerning this Brazilian species other than the description by Costa Lima (1938), and the reference therein to the rearing record from plants that presumably contained an unknown species of Tephritidae. Critical examination of this one rearing record suggests that this species may not actually have been reared from a tephritid, since it could just as easily have been reared from other dipteran hosts (such as agromyzids) attacking the plants in question.

Additional features that facilitate identification of this distinctive species are provided by Wharton and Marsh (1978). See the Opius page for characters that distinguish this species from other Opius that have been reared from Tephritidae.

In his monograph of New World species of Opiinae, Fischer (1977) placed this species in the genus Bracanastrepha, and made it the type species of the subgenus Buckanastrepha.

Subsequently, Wharton (1988) treated Bracanastrepha as a synonym of Utetes, but later, Wharton (1997) noted that several species included by Fischer (1977) in Bracanastrepha did not fit the restricted definition of Utetes. Among these was bucki. Thus, Wharton (1997) returned the species to the genus Opius.