Gonioscelis hispidus ( Wiedemann, 1819 )

Londt, Jason G. H., 2004, A review of the afrotropical genus Gonioscelis Schiner, 1866 (Diptera: Asilidae), with descriptions of new species, African Invertebrates 45, pp. 21-124 : 52-54

Gonioscelis hispidus ( Wiedemann, 1819)

Figs 58–60 , 152

Dasypogon hispidus Wiedemann, 1819: 37–38 .

Dasypogon setosus Wiedemann, 1824: 26–27 syn. n.

Gonioscelis setosus: Schiner 1867: 361–362

Gonioscelis melanocephalus Schiner, 1867: 363 syn. n.

Gonioscelis hispidus: Engel 1925: 172–173 ( Fig. 7 ơ gen.); Oldroyd 1974: 39.

Redescription: Based primarily on holotype ơ ( NHMW) .

Head: Antenna entirely missing ( setosus holotype – mostly dark red-brown except for orange junction between pedicel and postpedicel, setae dark red-brown to black). Facial swelling pronounced, mystax dark red-brown (approx. 5 tiny red-brown setae between gibbosity and antennal sockets). Frons and vertex gold pruinose. Ocellar tubercle apruinose with black oc. Occiput silver pruinose except for apruinose area posterior of vertex, setae black. Proboscis and palpus dark red-brown with fine redbrown setae.

Thorax: Dark red-brown to black, gold pruinose. Postpronotal lobes dark red-brown, but with orange-brown margin clearly contrasting with adjacent mesonotum, with many fine dark red-brown to black setae. Mesonotal setae black: ac weak along entire length, especially posterior of suture; approx. 20–25 pairs dc, clearly extending anterior of transverse suture; 4–5 npl; 5–6 sa; 6 pa. Scutellum dark red-brown to black, gold-silver pruinose, with 6 black mrg sct. Wing length 7.6 mm, membrane mostly orange-brown. Legs mostly yellow-brown, femora with dark red-brown parts. Prothoracic coxa dark red-brown to black, silver-gold pruinose, dark red-brown setose; femoral spur moderately pointed (angle approx. 35°).

Abdomen: Tergites mostly dark red-brown, silver pruinose except for apruinose edge, setae dark red-brown. Sternites similar to tergites but more weakly pruinose.

Terminalia ( Figs 58–60 ): ‘Cap b. sp.’ ơ holotype was macerated but found to be weakly sclerotised so drawings of an almost identical ơ from the West Coast National Park are provided. Proctiger and epandrial lobes projecting to approximately the same level, lobes tapering distally, each with fine setae distally; gcx with three distal projections, most ventral equipped with a few fine setae; hyp, in ventral view, broader than long, tapering to a somewhat truncate end that is produced medially as a short, somewhat narrow lobe bearing fine setae .

Variation: A fairly variable species. Mesonotal setae may be either black or yellowish while leg colouration varies from almost entirely orange to somewhat brownish. The hypandrium may vary slightly in shape and in the size of the terminal lobe.

Type material: SOUTH AFRICA: 1ơ holotype ( hispidus seen), ‘Cap b. sp.’, ‘ Goniosc. / Dasyp. / hispidus W. / Coll. Winthem’, ‘Type’ (NHMW); 1ơ syntype ( setosus seen), ‘D: n: sp: ex Cap. / b. sp:’ ‘ Dasypog. / setosus W. / Cap.’ ‘TYPE’ (red) (UZMD); 1ơ syntype ( setosus seen), ‘Cap. b. sp.’, ‘ Goniosc. (Dasy) / setosus W. / Coll. Winthem.’, ‘Type’ (red) (NHMW); 1ơ holotype ( melanocephalus seen), ‘Cap’, ‘ melanocepha / lus / Coll. Winthem’, ‘Type’ (red) (NHMW).

Type locality: Here fixed as South Africa, Western Cape, West Coast National Park (as genitalia most closely resemble those of the holotype) .

Other material: SOUTH AFRICA: 1ơ, ‘South Africa / Vredenburg [32°54'S 17°59'E] / 5- 10-1935 / Ac. US.’; 2ơ 1^, ‘South Africa: W. Cape / West Coast National Park / 33°06'12"S: 17°59'53"E 120m / JGH &A Londt 11.ix.2001 / Postberg – rocky hilltop area’; 1^, ‘Blaauwberg [33°44'S 18°28'E] / Oct. 1878 ’ ~ ‘Pres. by / R. Trimen’, ‘ G. hispidus / Wd. / det. Engel’, ‘ Gonioscelis / hispidus Wd. / det. E.O. Engel ^’ (ZSMC); 3ơ 3^, ‘Stellenbosch [33°56'S 18°51'E] / Capland / Dr Brauns / xii.1924 ’; 8ơ 3^, ‘Capland / Stellenbosch / 25.xi.1925 / Dr H. Brauns’; 1^, ‘Engel / 3’, ‘Stellenbosch / Cape Colony / Dr. Brauns / 15.10.16’, ‘ Gonioscelis / hispidus Fabr. ’ (ZSMC); 1^, ‘Capland / Stellenbosch / Nov. 2 1926 / Dr. H. Brauns.’, ‘Sammlung / E. Engel’, ‘ Gonioscelis ^ / hispidus Wd. / det. E.O. Engel’ (ZSMC); 1^, ‘Stellenb. / 1-19 [?] / S-J [?]’, ‘ Gonioscelis / hispidus ^ Wd. / det. Engel’ (ZSMC); 2ơ 2^, ‘Cape Town [33°55'S 18°25'E] / G. Peringuey / 1913’ (SAMC); 3^, Cape Town / G. Peringuey / Sept. 1913 ’ (SAMC); 1ơ, Cape Town / R. Lightfoot / Sep. 15 1920 ’ (SAMC); 1ơ, Cape Town / R. Lightfoot / Oct. 15 1920 ’ (SAMC); 1ơ 1^, ‘Cape Town / G Peringuey / 1913’, ‘Pres. by / Cape Museum. / per G. Ricardo. / 3.111.1923’ (BMNH); 1ơ, ‘Cape T. / 10.89’ (BMNH); 1ơ 3^, ‘S. Africa / Cape Town / x.1937 / R.E. Turner (BMNH); 1^, ‘Cape / Town’, ‘ Gonioscelis / hispidus ^ Wd. / det. E.O. Engel’ (ZSMC); 1ơ 1^, ‘S.Africa./ R.E.Turner. / 1920-392.’, ‘Camps Bay, [33°57'S 18°22'E] / Cape Peninsula. / Sept. 1920.’ (BMNH); 1^, ‘Hex R. [River 33°41'S 19°27'E] / 6.1.83’, ‘ G. / phacopterus / det. Engel / Schil.’, ‘ Gonioscelis / phacopterus ^ / Schin. / det. E.O. Engel’ (ZSMC); 1ơ, ‘Strand [34°07'S 18°50'E] / South Africa / 18-9-1947 / Dorrington J.E.’; 2ơ 5^, ‘Cape Peninsula / 13.v.1933 / R.E.Turner./ BM1938-6’ (BMNH); 2^, ‘P.N. / 8’, ‘Sammlung / F. Hermann [1^ only]’, ‘ Gonioscelis / hispidus Wd. / det. E.O. Engel’, ‘Capland / Gonioscelis / hispidus / Wd. ^ [1^ only]’ (ZSMC).

Recorded material not studied: Schiner (1867) records setosus from ‘Cap der guten Hoffnung’ (NHMW) while Engel (1925) records the following specimens of setosus 1ơ, Capland, Berg. S. (ZMHB). 2ơ 3^, Namaqualand, Sept. 1890, A. Lightfoot (ZSMC). For hispidus Engel (1925) records 2^, Capland, Berg (ZMHB) and ^ Natal. 8. – ơ Port Natal (ZSMC) that were not included in the consignment of material sent to me by ZSMC. I do not accept the records of hispidus in KwaZulu-Natal. Engel (1929) recorded under hispidus ‘^, Stellenbosch; 15.x.26; Dr Brauns, Willowmore’; I am not sure where this specimen is, but as there are specimens of haemorhous collected in Stellenbosch by Brauns on the date stated, I presume that Engel misidentified the recorded specimen. Oldroyd (1974) records the species also from Vanrhynsdorp and Klaver, but probably in error. G. maculiventris , excluded from his key, is superficially similar and is known from both these places.

Notes: Most of the ZSMC specimens listed above, some reported on by Engel (1925), are female. Engel’s identifications are accepted except that of the Hex River female that was listed twice by Engel (under phacopterus and maculipennis ). Wiedemann provides different and additional information for the hispidus type as follows ‘Prom. bon. sp.’ ‘Herrn Pastor Hesse’. As this suggests that there may be other specimens which could be the real types, I checked with both UZMD and ZMHB (the usual alternatives for Wiedemann’s specimens), but neither has hispidus material likely to have been studied by Wiedemann (despite Oldroyd’s (1974) statement ‘Type in Berlin’). I therefore consider the NHMW specimen to be the unique holotype, and that Wiedemann made an error in citing holotype data. I have seen two male ‘types’ of setosus , both labelled as from ‘Cap. b. sp.’ (Cape of Good Hope) – not ‘Prom. bon. sp.’ as indicated by Wiedemann (1824). While it is possible that Wiedemann studied both specimens, he ends his description by stating ‘In Museo regio’ which normally means the Royal Museum in Copenhagen (i.e. UZMD). I therefore suggest that the UZMD specimen be considered the holotype. It is not possible to state with certainty that Wiedemann’s material was from the Cape Peninsula (= Prom. bon. sp.). While the two ‘types’ are very similar in appearance, the pins and labels are different suggesting that they may have been collected by different people and probably at different times and places. Schiner (1867) gives ‘Afrika’ as provenance for melanocephalus . The type however, is clearly labelled ‘Cap’ thus limiting the distribution to the south-western parts of South Africa.

Distribution, phenology and biology (Tables 1–2, Fig. 152): Known from relatively few low-altitude localities within the Fynbos biome of south-western parts of the Western Cape province of South Africa, a winter-rainfall area. Specimens have been collected from September through to January, although a single record for May exists. I have collected it resting on the ground on a rocky hillside.

Similar species: Similar to ceresae , haemorhous , pickeri and scapularis , in that males possess a single distomedial hypandrial projection. The hypandrium has however, a distinctive shape, featuring a short finger-like medial process mounted on a broader base. Like pickeri , the epandrial lobes gradually taper distally in lateral view. Possibly all these species are only geographical variants of one species, but more information is required before this can be ascertained. G. melas males also have a single distomedial hypandrial process, but are otherwise different and perhaps more closely related to punctipennis and its allies (see comment under melas ).

Figures

Figs 52–63. Gonioscelis male genitalia. 52–54. G. hadrocantha sp. n. (holotype). 52. Lateral. 53. Dorsal. 54. Ventral. 55–57. G. haemorhous Schiner, 1867 (Stellenbosch). 55. Lateral. 56. Dorsal. 57. Ventral. 58–60. G. hispidus (Wiedemann, 1819) (West Coast National Park). 58. Lateral. 59. Dorsal. 60. Ventral. 61–63. G. iota sp. n. (Komaggas paratype). 61. Lateral. 62. Dorsal. 63. Ventral. Scale lines = 1 mm.

Figs 6–9. Gonioscelis species, wing, showing some variation encountered. 6. G. ventralis Schiner, 1867 (Vaalbos National Park) microtrichial colours results in central parts of cells appearing darker than areas adjacent to veins. 7. G. cuthbertsoni sp. n. (Angwa Bridge) showing very weak spotting at forks and crossveins.8. G. punctipennis Engel, 1925 (10 km W Garies) showing strong spotting at forks and crossveins. 9. G. melas sp. n. (31 km N Sutherland) showing generally dark wings caused mainly by black microtrichia.