Atherigona (Acritochaeta) orientalis Schiner, 1868

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, The Muscidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, descriptions of two new species, new records and updated list of species, Zootaxa 4869 (1), pp. 1-54 : 30-31

Atherigona (Acritochaeta) orientalis Schiner, 1868 ( Fig. 43 )

Atherigona orientalis Schiner, 1868: 295 .

Atherigona excisa (Thomson) is an often cited synonym.

Specimens examined. 1m, Asir, Keratha, Al-Ethrebany Fruit Farm , 1–20.xi.2013, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) .

Distribution. This species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Beccari (1971). This species is tropically and subtropically cosmopolitan. It was described from the Nicobar Islands. In Arabian Peninsula it is known from Oman and Yemen ( Pont 1991).

Biological remarks. Developing in a variety of substrates, from rotting fruit to dung, the larvae are active predators upon those of other flies and other soft-bodied insects.

Figures

FIGURE. 43–45. Muscidae species habitus: 43) Atherigona (Acritochaeta) orientalis Schiner, 1868, Male; 44) Inner surface of left surstylus (base omitted) of Atherigona (Acritochaeta) tedderi Deeming, 1979 showing the difference in shape and chaetotaxy from that of the holotype; 45) Atherigona (Acritochaeta) yorki Deeming, 1971, Male.