Lispe pectinipes Becker, 1903

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 : 38

Lispe pectinipes Becker, 1903 ( Fig. 62 )

Lispe pectinipes Becker, 1903: 113 .

Specimens examined. 4m, 6f, Jazan, Farasan Island, Aziz Yousef Village , 29.x.2014, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS; NMWC) ; 1m, 3f, Asir, Maraba, Al-Hudaithy Fruit Farm , 1–30.v.2004, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( NMWC; CERS); 1f, Asir, Keratha, Al-Ethrebany Fruit Farm, 15.v.–11.vi.2006, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) .

Distribution. This species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Pont (1991); El-Hawagry et al. (2016; 2017; 2018). It was described from Egypt. In the Arabian Peninsula it was recorded from Oman ( Pont 1991), the United Arab Emirates ( Deeming 2008), Egypt, Israel and Turkey ( Vikhrev 2014).

Biological remarks. Gregor et al. (2002) gave an account of Lispe behaviour and biology. The adults of Lispe are active predators of mainly small insects and often show striking sexual dimorphism in characters which feature in their courtship behaviour. Larvae of some species of Lispe possibly hatch in the second instar ( Skidmore 1985). All known Lispe larvae develop in wet sand or mud with high organic content. The predaceous larvae live in moist sand and mud alongside water.

Taxonomic remarks. L. pectinipes is a member of the L. leucospila ( Wiedemann, 1830) complex of species or forms. It is difficult to assess species-limits in this complex ( Pont 1991). Therefore, the true distribution of this species is difficult to be certain of because of its morphological similarity with L. leucospila . However, the dissection of the male genitalia of a specimen collected from Asir, Maraba, Saudi Arabia in this study showed it to be L. pectinipes (also see Pont 1991: 353).

Figures

FIGURE. 59–62. Muscidae species habitus: 59) Lispe flavicornis Stein, 1909, Female; 60) Lispe kowarzi Becker, 1903, Male; 61) Lispe nana Macquart, 1835, Male; 62) Lispe pectinipes Becker, 1903, Female.