Dasyhelea flaviventris (Goetghebuer)

Culicoides flaviventris Goetghebuer, 1910: 96 (female, Belgium).

Dasyhelea flaviventris: Kieffer 1919: 49 (combination, in key); Goetghebuer 1920: 41 (male, female; Belgium); Goetghebuer 1933a: 365 (syn.: = halobia); Goetghebuer 1934a: 28 (male, female, syn.: = scutellatus Winnertz nec Meigen, = halobia); Thienemann 1950: 167 (syn.: = halobia, Austria, breeding site – water margin zone in lake); Remm 1962: 127 (male, female; Estonia); Remm 1966: 60 (Lithuania); Remm 1967: 22 (Azerbaijan, Georgia); Remm 1969: 208 (male); Remm 1973b: 355 (Hungary); Havelka 1976a: 62 (Germany); Havelka 1976b: 225 (male, female, syn.: = scutellata Winnertz nec Meigen, = halobia); Havelka 1978b: 176 (Germany, syn.: = scutellata Winnertz nec Meigen, = halobia); Remm 1979: 50 (Estonia); Sahuquillo Herráiz & Gil Collado 1982: 748 (Spain); Gil Collado & Sahuquillo Herráiz 1983: 44 (male, female); Delécolle & Rieb 1990: 184 (France); Szadziewski 1991: 106 (Poland); Knoz 1997: 81 (Czech Republic); Knoz 1998: 118 (Czech Republic); Tóthová et al. 2004a: 309 (Czech Republic); Tóthová et al. 2004b: 146 (Czech Republic); Dominiak et al. 2007b: 4 (Poland).

Prokempia halobia Kieffer, 1924: 12 (male, female, larvae in saline habitats; Germany).

Prokempia flaviventris: Kieffer 1925c: 72 (combination, male, female).

New country records. Algeria. Aokas n. Béjaia, freshwater swamps, 6 May 1981, 4 males, leg. R. Szadziewski. Sétif, Apiaceae, 5 May 1981, 3 males, leg. R. Szadziewski. Bulgaria. Pirin, Sandanski, 12 June 1984, 6 males, leg. W. Krzemiński. Rila, Rilski Monastir, 26 June 1982, 1 male, leg. W. Krzemiński. North Korea. Near Pyongyang, 13 June 1981, 1 male, leg. W. Krzemiński. Morocco. Larache, south of Tanger, 9 April 1984, 1 male, leg. P. Sura. Romania. Lacul Rosu n. Piatra-Neamţ, 46°47.139'N 25°47.589'E, 971 m AMSL, 21 June 2007, net, 2 males, leg. P. Dominiak. Prislop Pass n. Borşa, 47°36.556'N 24°51.898'E, 1433 m AMSL, 24 June 2007, net, 1 male, leg. P. Dominiak. Saschiz n. Turda, 46°10.301'N 24°59.453'E, 443 m AMSL, 18 June 2007, net, 4 males, leg. R. Szadziewski.

Distribution. Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, Georgia, Azerbaijan, North Korea, Morocco, Algeria.

Discussion. This species is an arboreal Palaearctic faunal element. It has been reared from mosses covering a log at a lake margin and from wet soil (present observation). Records based on females from England (Edwards 1926) and Zaire (Goetghebuer 1933b) are doubtful. The occurrence of this species in Hungary, reported by Zilahi-Sebess (1940), was confirmed by Remm (1973b).

Goetghebuer (1934a) and Remm (1988) synonimized Prokempia halobia with D. flaviventris (subgenus Prokempia) while Borkent & Wirth (1997) placed it among synonyms of D. flavoscutellata (subgenus Pseudoculicoides). According to the original description, it is similar to D. flaviventris but the latter species was never collected in saline habitats. It is possible that D. halobia from saline habitats (types lost) actually belongs to the subgenus Pseudoculicoides as suggested by Borkent & Wirth (l.c.) (see also D. halobia among nomina dubia).