Lispocephala mikii ( Strobl, 1893 )

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, The Muscidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, descriptions of two new species, new records and updated list of species, Zootaxa 4869 (1), pp. 1-54 : 43

Lispocephala mikii ( Strobl, 1893) ( Fig. 73 )

Coenosia mikii Strobl, 1893: 107 .

Specimens examined. 1f, Asir, Abha, Hay Al-Nusub (Abha farm centre), 1.ii.2012, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS); 1m , Asir, Abha, Madenate Al-Ameer Sultan, Hay Al-Sad , 25.ii.–25.v.2002, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( NMWC) .

Distribution. This species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Dawah & Abdullah (2009). It was described from Yugoslavia.

General remarks. Carvalho et al. (2005) reported that 166 species and two subspecies of Lispocephala are known worldwide.

Biological remarks. The biology of most species of Lispocephala is unknown and only a puparium of L. alma has been described ( Skidmore 1985). The larvae of some species are found in shallow water among mosses, where they probably live as carnivores, hatching in the third instar. A number of Hawaiian species of Lispocephala have been reared from the decaying bark of various trees, in association with larval Drosophilidae ( Pont 1991) . At least some species are considered to be hygrophilous or halophilous ( Gregor et al. 2002).

Figures

FIGURE. 71–74. Muscidae species habitus: 71) Coenosia punctigera Stein, 1918, Female; 72) Coenosia simulans (Paterson, 1956), Female; 73). Lispocephala mikii (Strobl, 1893), Female; 74) Pygophora immaculipennis Frey, 1917, Female.