Platypygus kurdorum Paramonov

Gharali, Babak, Evenhuis, Neal L. & Almeida, Jorge, 2013, World synopsis of described species of the genus Platypygus Loew (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Platypyginae), Zootaxa 3745 (2), pp. 199-242 : 211-214

Platypygus kurdorum Paramonov

( Figs. 7 , 8 )

Platypygus kurdorum Paramonov, 1929: 157 . Paramonov, 1934: 19. Zaitzev, 1966: 139, 142; 1986: 816; 1989: 45; 1992: 80. Liepa, 1969: 18. Hull, 1973: 262. Rohlfien & Ewald, 1979: 223. Theodor, 1983: 33. Evenhuis, 1983: 477; 2002: 25. Koçak & Kemal, 2009: 49. Gharali et al., 2011: 27, 30.

Platypygus kurdorum var. persicus Paramonov, 1934: 18 . Liepa, 1969: 19. Hull, 1973: 262. Zaitzev & Kandybina, 1983: 32. Zaitzev, 1989: 45. Evenhuis, 2002: 25.

Platypygus persicus Paramonov. Evenhuis, 1983: 484 .

Material examined. Types: TURKEY: 1 lectotype and 2 paralectotype females/ Russ. Kurdistan/ Kasikoporan/ E. König (SDEI). Non-types: IRAN: 13 females, 10 males, Ghazvin province, Barajin region, Barajin, 8 km North of Ghazvin City, N36°20'50", E50°04'15", 1512 m, 12 June 2008, sweeping on Anthemis sp. ( Asteraceae ) B. Gharali (TMUC, BPBM); 1 female, Kurdistan region, Navareh, N35°18', E46°53', 1936 m, 4 June 2012, L. Abdi (B.G. collection); 3 females, Keredj [= Karaj], 40 km W Tehran, 13–19 May 1936, Brandt (USNM); 1 male, 1 female, same data (KBIN); 1 female, Zagros Mountains, Cherûm, N 29°35'16", E51°26'26", 1 April 1999, J.P. Borrie (J. Dils). ISRAEL: 1 male, 1 female, Keshet, 18 May 1983, F. Kaplan; 4 males, 10 females, 1 male + 1 female in copula, Ma’ale Adumin [Adumim], 12 April 1990, A. Freidberg; 2 females, Mishor Adummin [Adummim], 21 April 1992, A. Freidberg (all in TAU). JORDAN: 1 male, Wadi Sir near Amman, 20 April 1956, J. Kapperich (HNHM); 1 female, ruins near Umm Qeis [Qais], 4 September 1992, M. von Tschirnhaus (N.L. Evenhuis). SYRIA: 3 females, Mt. Hermon, 2000 m, 28 August 1972, A. Freidberg ( TAU).

Notes on types. Paramonov (1929) described Platypygus kurdorum based on 3 specimens from “Kasikoporan” (a town near in what is now Turkey near the Armenian border [40°01'N, 43°26'E]) and deposited in SDEI. All three specimens were examined in this study and are in fair condition. Gharali et al. (2011) incorrectly assumed that one specimen in SDEI was a holotype and the other two were in Paramonov’s personal collection. In fact, all three specimens are in SDEI (two were out on loan) and since no such single specimen was ever selected by Paramonov to be a holotype, all are syntypes. Engel (1933: 123) examined the three type specimens and stated “ Type in der Sammlung des Deutsch. Entom. Institutes Berlin-Dahlem”. This statement could be considered a lectotype designation based on Article 74.5 of the ICZN Code; however, no specific specimen was selected so it is impossible to state which of the three was meant to be the type. To avoid confusion, we here select the best preserved of these three syntypes, a female specimen repined into a polyzote stage, as the lectotype female. It carries the following labels ( Fig. 7 a): “RUSS. KURDISTAN/ KASIKOPORAN/ E. König” [printed]; “7987” [handwritten blue]; reverse has “ Holotypus ” [printed]; “ TYPUS ” [printed, crossed out]; “Coll. DEI / Eberswalde” [printed]; “Paramonov det. ” [printed]; “ LECTOTYPE / Platypygus / kurdorum / Paramonov” [handwritten]. The lectotype is pinned through the mesonotum and is missing both antennal flagellomeres, the left wing, and the tip of the proboscis. Eugen König was an insect dealer in St. Petersburg from 1886–1892 and an assistant curator in the Tiflis Museum in Georgia from 1893–1914. We have no information on how or when these specimens came into the hands of Paramonov but, although there is no date of collection of these specimens, given the information we have on König, they were no doubt collected before 1914, and most likely during the years König was in Tiflis.

Platypygus kurdorum var. persicus by Paramonov (1934) was described based on 10 specimens collected in 1904 at a number of localities in Iran by Nikolai Alekseyevich Zarudny. All these specimens are deposited in ZIS. A specimen from “Gurzhir”, Loristan, Iran was selected by Zaitzev & Kandybina (1983) as lectotype male. Type material was not examined by us in this study and we follow the synonymy by Zaitzev (1989) of this name under P. kurdorum .

Diagnostic features. Face yellow; frons yellow with variable black mark medially ( Figs. 7 b, e); antennae black; occiput black except posteriorly projecting postgenal process yellow; pronotum yellow with black mark dorsomedially; mesonotum bare, with three dorsal black stripes, black spot laterally next to transverse suture (sometimes black spot coalesced with lateral stripes); lateral stripes extend from posterior margin of postpronotal lobes to postalar calli, median stripe extends from anterior margin of mesonotum to scutellum ( Figs. 7 c, f); scutellum yellow; postpronotal lobes and postalar calli yellow; halter stem and knob yellow; pleura yellow except black spot on anepisternum just posterior to anterior spiracle ( Fig. 7 d); black spot on anterodorsal corner of katepisternum and on upper margin of meron; r-m crossvein about the middle of cell dm, cell br longer than cell bm.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 8 a-d). In lateral view, epandrium trapezoid, longer than high, with two short and acute processes; gonocoxites fused, H-shaped, with some bristly hairs laterally, with two long plates; plates medially twisted; gonostyli clavate, hollowed apically, deeply inserted in gonocoxites; aedeagal bulb large, basal aedeagal apodeme narrow in dorsal view, subrectangular in lateral view, extending forward as long and apically tri-lobate process.

Female genitalia ( Figs. 8 e, f). Furca U-shaped, sclerotized, lateral arms strongly sclerotized; without sclerotization around genital orifice; common spermathecal duct very short, brown, sclerotized; each spermathecal duct divided into two sections, the basal section, transversely striated, long, broad, basally sclerotized; the apical section as narrow and smooth duct, without distinct sperm pump or valves; basal part of median spermathecal duct narrower than that of lateral ducts, without striation, straight basally, remainder twisted spirally, gradually broadened toward apex; apical ducts eight times narrower than basal ducts, about 0.7 times that of basal ducts in length; lateral spermathecal ducts (only a small part shown in the illustration) about 4 times median duct in width; spermathecal reservoirs pear-shaped, slightly curved at middle, with a small cap apically, cap with hardly visible short and dense canaliculi.

Distribution. Iran, Israel (new record), Jordan (new record), Syria (new record), Turkey.

Remarks. Gharali et al. (2011) reviewed the status of this species and, after checking one type specimen and recently collected material that matched it, they showed that the distribution of P. kurdorum at that time was known only from Iran and Turkey. We here extend its distribution into the Middle East with records from Israel, Syria, and Jordan. The single Navareh female collected from the west of Iran (Kurdistan region) listed above gives the possibility that this species may also occur in the neighboring Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Platypygus kurdorum female lectotype (a-c), specimens from Iran (d-f): a — lateral view, b — head (anterior view), c — dorsal view, d — lateral view of female, e — head (anterior view), f — mesonotum (dorsal view).

FIGURE 8. Genitalia of Platypygus kurdorum: a — epandrium (lateral view), b — gonocoxites (dorsal view), c — phallic complex (dorsal view), d — phallic complex (lateral view), e — female genitalia (furca and tubes), f — spermathecal reservoir.