Sphenometopa mesomelaenae Chao & Zhang, 1988a : 281

Zhang, Dong, Zhang, Ming, Li, Zijuan & Pape, Thomas, 2015, The Sarcophagidae (Insecta: Diptera) described by Chien-ming Chao and Xue-zhong Zhang, Zootaxa 3946 (4), pp. 451-509 : 475-477

Sphenometopa mesomelaenae Chao & Zhang, 1988a: 281 . China, Sichuan, Litang, Kangka.

Originally included specimen: Described from one male.

Name-bearing type: Holotype ♂: Sichuan, Litang, Kangka/ 3700m / Chinese Academy of Sciences [white label in Chinese, in black print except “Litang, Kangka/ 3700m ” handwritten in black ink]// 1982. VI.4 / Collected by X.Z. Zhang [“1982. VI.4 ” handwritten in black ink, remaining in black print, in Chinese]// HOLOTYPE [red label, in black print]// IOZ(E)216073 [blue label, in black print]// ♂ [white label, in black print]// Sphenometopa / (A.)/ mesomelaennae Chao et Zhang/ Identified by C.M. Chao [“Identified by C.M. Chao” in black print, in Chinese, remaining handwritten in black ink].

Holotype slightly dusty but otherwise in good condition. Terminalia extracted.

Current identity: Sphenometopa stelviana ( Brauer & Bergenstamm, 1891) as treated by Rohdendorf (1967, 1971; but see Remarks below) and here proposed as a senior synonym of Sphenometopa mesomelaenae Chao & Zhang, 1988 , syn. n. and Sphenometopa altajica Rohdendorf, 1971 , syn. n.

Additional specimens: 1♂: France: Col du Lautaret, VII.1908, Coll. by J. Villeneuve; 1♂: France: Col du Lautaret (Dauphine), 24.I.1918, Coll. by J. Villeneuve; 2♂♂: Spain: Gerona, Santuario Nuria, alt. 2100m, 10.VII.1984, Coll. by V. Michelsen.

Sphenometopa altajica Rohdendorf : Paratype 1♂: Kazakhstan: Tarbagatai, source of the river Urdzhar, alt. 2000m, 11.VII.1957, Coll. by [K.J.] Grunin. All specimens in ZMUC.

Remarks: Specimens of S. stelviana examined for the present study do not differ from the types of S. mesomelaenae and are synonymized here because the modified male fore tarsi and genitalia appear to be identical. Hence, S. stelviana is herewith reported from China for the first time. Rohdendorf (1971) put considerable taxonomic weight on the relative development of the presutural acrostichal bristles at both subgeneric and species level. Thus, the differences given to separate S. stelviana from his S. altajica were partly the presence of welldeveloped but irregular presutural acrostichals in the former, and partly from differences in the setal tuft of the first tarsomere of the male fore tarsus: a loose tuft of curved setae in S. stelviana , versus a more compact tuft of straight setae in S. altajica . The material examined for the present work is not very extensive, but it presents a variation fully connecting the two morpho-types outlined by Rohdendorf (1971), which is here considered support for the proposed synonymies.

Redescription of Male: Body length 5.7 mm ( Fig. 14 A). Head: Eye bare, deep red. Fronto-orbital plate, parafacial and postocular strip black with silvery pollinosity; parafacial with two bristles, 1.3× as broad as frontoorbital plate. Frontal vitta black, 2.0× as broad as fronto-orbital plate in median part; frons at vertex 0.35× head width ( Fig. 14 D); frontal row of 10 bristles; outer vertical bristle differentiated from postocular bristles, five proclinate orbital bristles, with the upper two weaker. Ocellar bristles directed anteriorly. Gena ground color black, with black bristles, height 0.18× eye height in lateral view ( Fig. 14 F). Antenna gray, not reaching the level of vibrissal insertion, first flagellomere 2.6× as long as pedicel ( Fig. 14 D, F); arista micropubescent, basal half swollen, postocular bristles in five or six rows; vibrissa developed, facial ridge with bristles in basal 2/3 ( Fig. 14 E). Palpus black, slightly expanded in distal part.

Thorax ground color black; scutum pollinosity grayish white with one broad black dorsal vittae. Chaetotaxy: acrostichals 0+1, dorsocentrals 2+3, intra-alars 0+2, supra-alars 2, postalars 2, postpronotals 2, notopleurals 2, scutellum with 1 apical, 1 subapical, 1 basal bristles and 2 discal bristles. Pleuron with meropleurals 3, katepisternal bristles 1: 1, prosternum, metasternum, proepisternum and postalar wall bare.

Wing hyaline ( Fig. 14 A); subcostal sclerite yellow, bare; tegula black; basicosta black brown, bare; costal spine not differentiated; vein R1 bare, three dorsal bristles at node of R2+3-R4+5, lower calypter yellowish white.

Legs black; fore femur with numerous bristles along dorsal and posteroventral margins, fore tibia with one sub-median posterior bristle, fore first tarsomere with one raised sections in the basal ventral surface, and with elongated bristle cluster, and with four or five elongated posterior bristles ( Fig. 14 C); mid femur with one row of anterior bristles, one row of anteroventral bristles and one row of ventral bristles, mid tibia with one row of anterodorsal bristles (about 5) and one row of posterodorsal bristles (about 6), one median ventral and one submedian posterior bristles; hind femur with rows of long bristles along dorsal, anterodorsal, anterior, anteroventral and ventral surface, hind tibia with one row of anterodorsal bristles (about 8) and one row of posterodorsal bristles (about 5), three median anterior bristles.

Abdomen long oval; tergite 3 with two pairs of median marginal bristles, tergite 4 with complete row of marginal bristles, tergites 2–4 with broad median vittae, and each with one black spot on the side, tergite 5 with golden brown pollinosity and without any black spots ( Fig. 14 G). Terminalia see Fig. 14 B.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Sphenometopa mesomelaenae Chao & Zhang, 1988 [= Sphenometopa stelviana Brauer & Bergenstamm, 1891], male, holotype. A. Body, lateral view. B. Terminalia, lateral view. C. Right fore tarsus, posterodorsal view. D. Head, anterior view. E. Head, anterolateral view. F. Head, lateral view. G. Body, dorsal view. H. Labels. Scales: A = 2.00 mm, B & C = 0.50 mm, D – G = 1.00 mm.