Dasyhelea fasciigera Kieffer

Dominiak, Patrycja & Szadziewski, Ryszard, 2010, Distribution and new synonymy in European biting midges of the genus Dasyhelea Kieffer (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 2437, pp. 1-37 : 13

Dasyhelea fasciigera Kieffer

Dasyhelea fasciigera Kieffer, 1925a: 151 (male, Estonia); Borkent & Forster 1986: 1285 (male, female; Canada, USA, Mexico); Navai 1994: 372 (male, Afghanistan); Delécolle 1998 (1999): 137 (as D. fascigera [sic!], Spain); Boorman & van Harten 2002: 441 (male, Oman); Tóthová & Knoz 2006: 106 ( Czech Republic).

Dasyhelea furcata Zilahi-Sebess, 1940: 50 (male, Hungary); Remm 1967: 20 (male, Azerbaijan); Remm 1973a: 173 ( Mongolia); Remm 1981: 30 (= dentiforceps first form).

Dasyhelea nigra Zilahi-Sebess, 1940: 50 (as furcata var. nigra , male, Hungary).

Dasyhelea dentiforceps (first form): Tokunaga 1940: 121 (male, female; Japan, China, Mongolia).

New country records. Bulgaria. Pirin, Sandanski, 12 June 1984, 2 males, leg. W. Krzemiński. Pakistan. Lahore, Punjab, June 1959, H. Barnett, light trap, 21 males (USNM).

Distribution. Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Mongolia, Japan, Oman, Canada, USA, Mexico.

Discussion. Remm (1962) illustrated the male genitalia of two forms under the name D. fasciigera . Subsequently, Remm (1967) described one of them as D. furva (see below). In our opinion, the second male form illustrated by Remm from specimens collected in Estonia, is not D. fasciigera sensu Borkent & Forster 1986 (= D. furcata Zilahi-Sebess, 1940 ). Tergite IX of the males from Estonia depicted by Kieffer (1925a) and Remm (1962) have much more slender apicolateral processes than males of D. furcata collected in other regions. Additional material of these two forms is necessary in order to determine whether these perceived differences are artefacts of mounting and/or observation, due to infraspecific variability, or if D. fasciigera and D. furcata are actually different, distinct species.

Dasyhelea fasciigera is a Holarctic arboreal species.