Thaumatomyia notata ( Meigen, 1830 )

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, An overview of the Chloropidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 4791 (1), pp. 1-71 : 61

Thaumatomyia notata ( Meigen, 1830)

( Fig 68 )

Chlorops notata Meigen, 1830: 144 .

Specimens examined. 1♂, Asir, Al-Souda, Al-Muqtha Dam , 14.iii.2013, Sweeping, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 1♀, Asir, Abha, Hay Al-Nusub , 1.ii.2012, Malaise trap, J.C. Deeming and H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 2♀, same data but, 3.iii.- 3.vi.2001, H.A. Dawah ( NMWC) ; 2♀, 1♂, Asir, Abha, Hey Al-Menhel , 12.v.–3.vi.2015, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 2♂, Asir, Abha, Madenate Al-Ameer Sultan , 10.v.2002, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) .

Distribution. This species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Dawah & Abdullah (2006); El-Hawagry et al. (2016; 2017). It was described without type-locality being specified (Coll; Winthem) and is recorded from Azores, Burma, Canary Islands, China, Europe, Ethiopia, Japan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, Turkey, Uganda and widespread in the Palaearctic Region ( Sabrosky 1980; Nartshuk 1984; 2012).

Biology. The species of Thaumatomyia are predaceous on root aphids and represent an important factor in the control of the sugarbeet root aphid ( Pemphigus spp.) and scale insects ( Nartshuk 1984). T. notata periodically builds up enormous populations before hibernation that appear as gigantic swarms, sometimes invading houses in autumn in huge masses for hibernation and sometimes swarming at sufficient densities to be mistaken for the smoke of a burning building (Nartshuk 2009; Kotrba & Nartshuk 2009; Chinery 2012; Marshall 2012). Kotrba & Nartshuk (2009) studied the role of the paired eversible vesicles on the postabdomen of male T. notata in intraspecific communication and possibly in the notorious aggregation behaviour at buildings in autumn. It is the larva, rather than the adult, that is predacious, living in the ground near roots of plants and feeding on root aphids ( Nartshuk 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 68. Thaumatomyia notata (Meigen, 1830). Male. 0018065