Chyliza pallidipes Lamb, 1917

Ross, Andrew J., Hancock, David L., Mcalister, Erica & Zhou, Jiale, 2024, A fly in the ointment: the re-discovered holotype of ‘ Trypeta’ cylindrica Walker, 1853 belongs to the genus Coelopacidia Enderlein (Diptera: Tephritidae), not Chyliza Fallén (Psilidae), Zootaxa 5529 (3), pp. 593-600 : 597-599

Chyliza pallidipes Lamb, 1917 , stat. rev.

Figs 3 , 4

Chyliza sp. : Walker, 1858: 231.

Chyliza pallidipes Lamb, 1917: 271 ; Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Trypeta cylindrica Walker : Hardy, 1959: 213; India; misidentification.

‘Unplaced’ cylindrica Walker : Steyskal, 1977: 164; misidentification.

Coelopacidia cylindrica (Walker) : Kapoor, 1993: 29, 90; East India; Pars, misidentification.

Chyliza cylindrica (Walker) : Shatalkin, 1998: 101–102, figs 15, 31; India, Sri Lanka, Thailand; misidentification.

Chyliza cylindrica (Walker) ( = pallidipes Lamb ): Hancock & Drew, 2005: 5; misidentification.

Chyliza cylindrica (Walker) : David et al., 2013: 456; misidentification.

Chyliza cylindrica (Walker) : Shatalkin, 2014, p. 152; misidentification.

Holotype. NHMUK 013444154 , female.

Type locality. Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Other material. Specimens listed by Shatalkin (1998) under ‘ Chyliza cylindrica ’, including the misidentified ‘type’ ( NHMUK 013444153).

Description

See Shatalkin (1998) under ‘ Chyliza cylindrica’. Holotype, length from tip of head (excluding antennae) to tip of abdomen 5.2mm, wing-length 3.8mm.

Remarks

Specimen 013444153 matches Hardy’s (1959) description of the “type” of Trypeta cylindrica Walker , particularly in that it is in ‘very poor condition’ with ‘completely hyaline wings’ and the ‘thorax is densely covered with recumbent white pile,’ but does not match the original description by Walker (1853) and figures by Westwood, so was misidentified. When Steyskal (1977) listed ‘ cylindrica ’ under ‘unplaced species of Platystomatidae’ he referred to Hardy (1959), so was therefore referring to this specimen. This specimen was subsequently referred to as the ‘type’ of Chyliza cylindrica (Walker) and the species was re-described by Shatalkin (1998), who included Chyliza pallidipes Lamb, 1917 as a junior synonym. Shatalkin’s description was based on a total of 12 specimens from Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, including the holotype of C. pallidipes .

Given that the ‘type’ had been misidentified and the name combination ‘ Chyliza cylindrica (Walker) ’ was not formally described as a valid species then the ‘Type’ and ‘Holotype’ labels were therefore incorrectly attributed. The green-circled ‘Type’ label was added in 1940 when the collection was moved to safety at the beginning of World War II and the red-bordered ‘Holotype’ label very recently (A. Pont, pers. comm.). However, the green-circled ‘Type’ labels were added arbitrarily and were often placed on specimens that were not types.

The holotype of C. pallidipes (NHMUK 013444154, Fig. 4A, B ), and the misidentified ‘type’ are clearly conspecific and are very similar in length, from tip of head (excluding antennae) to tip of abdomen, being 5.2mm for 013444154 and 5.4mm for 013444153. Chyliza pallidipes Lamb stat. rev. is thus taken out of synonymy and is the valid name for this species.

Figures

FIGURE 3. The misidentified ‘type’ of ‘Chyliza cylindrica’ (Walker, 1853), NHMUK 013444153, dorsal view. Scale bar 5mm.

FIGURE 4. The holotype of Chyliza pallidipes Lamb, 1917, NHMUK 013444154. A, dorsal view. B, lateral view (left side). Scale bars 5mm.