Atherigona (s. str.) humeralis ( Wiedemann, 1830 )

Deeming, John C., 2022, Some Afrotropical species of Atherigona Rondani (Diptera: Muscidae) revisited and a new species described, European Journal of Taxonomy 847 (1), pp. 121-144 : 126-127

Atherigona (s. str.) humeralis ( Wiedemann, 1830)

Coenosia humeralis Wiedemann, 1830: 441 .

Atherigona ferruginea van Emden, 1940: 116 . Sudan.

Remarks

Described ( Wiedemann 1830: 441) from the Sudan as a species of Coenosia , much confusion has arisen in nomenclature between this and related species. The junior synonym Atherigona (s. str.) ferruginea was also described from the Sudan (van Emden 1940: 116).

At present the synonymy of the two species that have appeared under this name is thus:

1) humeralis (Wiedemann) ( Pont 1986, 1997) ( Skidmore 1985, non Hennig 1964, nec auctt.), syn. ferruginea van Emden ( Pont 1986) .

2) bedfordi van Emden, syn. humeralis (Wiedemann) sensu Hennig 1964 , et auctt., non Skidmore, 1985, nec Pont, 1986.

Amongst the material discovered in the Smithsonian Institution is a specimen labelled as being the type of Coenosia humeralis . This specimen is an Atherigona and it is in quite good condition, but teneral, lacking both middle legs and having the one remaining hind leg heavily damaged. It is pinned onto a card mount on a ‘continental’ pin and bears the following labels:

1) blue rectangular “ Tete Peters” in copperplate of an unknown hand.

2) white rectangular “6618” [or possibly 8199] machine-printed.

3) red rectangular “ Type ” machine-printed.

4) blue rectangular “ humeralis Wied. Loew *” in copperplate as 1 above.

5) grey rectangular “ Atherigona varia Meig. ♂ ” in Stein’s handwriting [this is a simple misidentification, fortunately not introduced into the literature].

6) white rectangular “Mus. Berol.” [this refers to Museo Regio Berolinensi, the Royal Museum of Berlin, of which Museo academico Berolinensi and Royal Prussian Museum are alternative names for the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, formerly the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin].

Wiedemann only described a single species of Muscidae under the specific name of humeralis , which is this species, and the types of it from Senckenberg Museum (Frankfurt am Main) have been clearly identified by Pont (1997: 98). Pont (1995) further gives much information on the collectors with whom Wiedemann cooperated and the nature of the collections upon which he worked and was able to identify the type with certainty. Clearly, this specimen is falsely labelled as being the type. Upon dissection it was found on the structure, colouration and chaetotaxy of the trifoliate process to be undoubtedly A. hyalinipennis van Emden, 1959 . A further label has been added to the specimen to that effect and the abdomen pinned beneath the specimen in a van Doesburg vial of glycerine.

Distribution

The species is further known from the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Jordan, Libya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Oman, Rwanda, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Uganda and United Arab Emirates.