Leylaiya Efflatoun, 1945

Greathead, D. J. & Evenhuis, N. L., 2001, Annotated keys to the genera of African Bombylioidea (Diptera: Bombyliidae; Mythicomyiidae), African Invertebrates 42 (1820), pp. 105-224 : 124

Leylaiya Efflatoun

Leylaiya Efflatoun, 1945: 21 . Type species: Leylaiya mimnermia Efflatoun, 1945 , by original designation. Euanthobates Hesse, 1965: 482 . Type species: Euanthobates pectinigulus Hesse, 1965 , by original designation. Syn. n.

Acoecus Hull, 1973: 265 , 276 (as subgenus of Euanthobates Hesse ). Type species: Euanthobates mellivorus Hesse, 1967 , by original designation. Syn. n.

Comments: Examination in this study of the genera Euanthobates , Acoecus , and Leylaiya show them to be congeneric. Hull (1973) distinguished his subgenus Acoecus from Euanthobates s. str. by the unmodified venter of the head (the venter in Euanthobates pectinigulus had ‘caeca-like’ protuberances according to Hesse). Close examination of the type specimen of E. pectinigulus , as well as other specimens, show that Hesse misinterpreted these ‘protuberances’. They are, in fact, part of the proboscis, which retracts into the open oral cavity of the venter of the head in an accordion-like fashion (see Fig. 20 ). Hesse and Hull apparently did not know Leylaiya (the latter merely quoted Efflatoun’s description in his 1973 work). Direct comparison of many specimens of Leylaiya , Euanthobates , and Acoecus shows that head, antennal, and wing venation characters are all within a very small range of variation; and the proboscis modifications are only a specific, not a generic character. Hence, we here place Euanthobates and Acoecus as junior synonyms of Leylaiya . In South Africa, some species are pollinators of Mesembryanthemaceae ( Leylaiya whiteheadi on Conophytum pellucidum ; Liede et al. (1991) and see below).

Distribution: Egypt: 1 species; Leylaiya mimnermia Efflatoun. Namibia, South Africa: 3 species; Leylaiya mellivora (Hesse) comb. n., L. pectinigula (Hesse) comb. n., L. whiteheadi sp. n.

Figures

Fig. 20. Leylaiya whiteheadi Greathead and Evenhuis, scanning electron micrograph, ventral view, showing accordion-like retracted proboscis.