Merodon rufipes Sack

Veselić, Sanja, Vujić, Ante & Radenković, Snežana, 2017, Three new Eastern-Mediterranean endemic species of the Merodon aureus group (Diptera: Syrphidae), Zootaxa 4254 (4), pp. 401-434 : 418

Merodon rufipes Sack

Figs 1 , 2 , 12–14 , 16 a

Type material (not revised). Ukraine: 2 ♀, Poltawa ( Sack, 1913).

New records. Bulgaria: ♂, Stara planina, Sliven, 13.ix.1960, leg. A. Monko ( MZPW) ; Ukraine: ♂, Kharkiv, 26.viii.1983, leg. Jaroshevskij ( RMNH) ; ♀, Kharkiv, 30.viii.1981, leg. Jaroshevskij ( RMNH) .

Diagnosis. Species with bluish reflection of mesonotum and green reflection of abdomen ( Fig. 12 a); posterior half of mesonotum covered with black pile; tergites completely covered in pale pile in male. Similar to M. adriaticus , from which it differs by the presence of mostly pale pile on eyes and completely pale pilosity on scutellum ( Fig. 12 b).

Body size. Length: body = 8–9 mm; wing 6–7.5 mm (n = 3).

Re-description. MALE ( Fig. 12 , 13 ). Head ( Fig. 12 c, 12d). Antenna yellowish brown; basoflagellomere yellowish orange, 1.3–1.5 times longer than pedicel, dorsal margin concave in apical half, apex acute; arista yellow basally, as long as pedicel and basoflagellomere together. Face and frons shiny black, covered with long yellow pile. Oral margin bare, with black lustre. Vertical triangle isosceles, shiny black and covered in long pale pile, except for a few darker pile anteriorly. Eye contiguity about 12 ommatidia long. Ocellar triangle equilateral, covered with predominately pale and a few black pile. Eye pile mostly pale and long, except light brown in upper eye corner. Occiput shiny, except along eye margin with a narrow stripe of white microtrichia, covered with yellow pile. Thorax. Mesoscutum bluish with metallic reflections, covered in long, dense, erect black pile in posterior half ( Fig. 13 a); scutellum predominately covered with pale pile; mesoscutum with three very weak longitudinal stripes of dark brown to black microtrichia in anterior half. Posterior anepisternum, anepimeron and dorsal part of katepisternum with whitish-yellow long pile. Wing light brownish, with yellow veins. Dorsal and ventral calypters brownish. Haltere with light brown pedicel and dark brown capitulum. Femora dark brown; tibiae pale with weak submedial dark brown to black ring; tarsi darkened dorsally, pale ventrally (except in fore and mid legs, metatarsus also pale dorsally) ( Fig. 13 b). Legs predominately covered with pale pile, except for short black pile dorsally and antero-dorsally on fore and mid femora, plus a few black ones apically on hind femur. Hind trochanter with an inner spike ending in two angular points. Abdomen ( Fig. 12 a). Oval, slightly longer than mesonotum; black with green metallic reflections. Tergites II and III black, usually with a pair of indistinct white transverse bands of microtrichia interrupted in the middle. Tergites completely covered in yellow pile. Sternites shiny black, covered with long light yellow pile. Genitalia ( Fig. 2 ). Similar to all other species of the M. aureus group.

FEMALE ( Fig. 14 ). Similar to the male except for normal sexual dimorphism and the following characteristics: vertex with black pile; apical two tarsomeres darkened ( Fig. 14 b). Abdomen shiny black, with a pair of white bands of microtrichia on tergites II–IV. On tergite II these bands are subparallel to the anterior margin of the tergite, whereas on tergites III and IV these bands are oblique ( Fig. 14 c). Tergites partly covered with pale pile; black pile on central parts of posterior half of tergite II, all of tergite III and anterior half of tergite IV, except on microtrichose stripes.

Range and preferred habitat. Eastern Europe ( Ukraine and Bulgaria) ( Fig. 1 ); eastern thermophilous Quercus forest and mesophilous Fagus forest.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of Merodon adriaticus sp. n. (●) and Merodon rufipes (▲).

FIGURE 2. Male genitalia of Merodon rufipes: a, b—epandrium; c—hypandrium; d—aedeagus and associated structures; a, c, d—lateral view; b—anterior view. ASL—anterior surstyle lobe (ASL refers actually to the place where the anterior surstyle lobe should be, since this is virtually absent from this species); PSL—posterior surstyle lobe; AED—aedeagus. Scale 0.2 mm.

FIGURE 12. Merodon rufipes, male: a—dorsal view (scale 1 mm); b—thorax, dorsal view (scale 1 mm); c—head, lateral view (scale 0.5 mm); d—head, anterior view (scale 0.5 mm).

FIGURE 13. Merodon rufipes, male: a—thorax, lateral view (anterior part of the thorax on the right side, posterior part on the left side); b—hind leg, lateral view. Scale 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 14. Merodon rufipes, female: a—thorax and abdomen, dorsal view (scale 1 mm); b—hind tarsi, dorsal view (scale 0.5 mm); c—abdomen, dorsal view (scale 1 mm).

FIGURE 16. Females: a— Merodon rufipes, thorax, lateral view (anterior part of the thorax on the right side, posterior part on the left side); b— Merodon legionensis, hind tarsi, lateral view; c— Merodon flavicornis, hind tarsi, lateral view. Scale 0.5 mm.