Coenosia humilis Meigen, 1826

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 : 42

Coenosia humilis Meigen, 1826 ( Fig. 70 )

Coenosia humilis Meigen, 1826: 220 .Later transferred into Caricea Robineau-Desvoidy , now synonymised with Coenosia Meigen.

Specimens examined. 2m, 1f, Asir, Abha, Madenate Al-Ameer Sultan , 25.ii.–25.v.2002, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah & M.A. Abdullah ( NMWC; CERS) ; 1m, 1f, Asir, Abha, Hay Al-Nusub , 1–25.v.2013, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) .

Distribution. It was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Pont (1991); Dawah & Abdullah (2009); El-Hawagry et al. (2013; 2016; 2017). It was described without type-locality being specified. van Emden (1948) recorded it from Yemen “as C. humilis multimaculata “ [sic)]”.

Biological remarks. Species of the genus Coenosia hatch in the third instar, and are obligate carnivores ( Pont 1991). They are probably all predatory on insects inhabiting the herb layer, the larvae develop not only in humus but also in parts of plants already infested with other fly larvae. Kühne (2000) discussed several Coenosia species for the bio-control of important green house pests. They attack adult black fungus gnats ( Sciaridae ), leafmining flies ( Agromyzidae ) and white flies ( Aleyrodidae ) under greenhouse conditions.

Figures

FIGURE. 67–70. Muscidae species habitus: 67) Coenosia attenuata Stein in Becker, 1903, Male; 68) Coenosia aurifacies Emden, 1940, Male; 69) Coenosia cuthbertsoni Curran, 1935, Male; 70) Coenosia humilis Meigen, 1826, Male.