Orthochile schembrii Rondani, 1859

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 105-106

Orthochile schembrii Rondani, 1859

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: 1859a: 315 (key), 316 (description).

TYPE LOCALITY: “ In insula Melita [ Malta Island]” .

TYPE MATERIAL: 2 ♀♀, syntypes (mostly covered with mold, one missing head) ( MZUF: Box 42): Orthochyle [sic!] Latr. / schembrii Rnd., Sard. , Malta / 2301 / Malta; 1 ♂, syntype ( MZUF: Box 42): Orthochyle [sic!] Latr. / schembrii Rnd. , ♂, Malta , Sard. / 2301 / Malta.

CURRENT STATUS: junior synonym of Ortochile soccata Loew, 1850 ( Negrobov 1991: 94; Yang et al. 2006: 183).

REMARKS: Rondani (1859a: 316) described both sexes of Orthochile schembrii , from an unspecified number of specimens: “ In insula Melita a Dr. Schembri lecta , … exemplaria nonnulla utriusque sexus mihi communicata fuerunt [In Malta collected by Dr. Schembri … some specimens of both sexes were provided to me]”. Three syntypes were found in this study This nominal species was described under the generic name “ Orthochile ”, which is an “incorrect subsequent spelling of Ortochile Latreille, 1809 or subsequent usage of Orthochile Blanchard, 1845 ” ( O’Hara et al. 2011: 133).