Megaselia claudia Borgmeier, 1967

DISNEY, R. H. L., 2003, Tasmanian Phoridae (Diptera) and some additional Australasian species, Journal of Natural History 37 (5), pp. 505-639 : 538

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930110096564
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5272492
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B287A2-4276-FFBF-FDDE-FE59FBEEFA1F
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Megaselia claudia Borgmeier, 1967
status

Treatment

Megaselia claudia Borgmeier, 1967 View in CoL

(figures 13C, 14)

Megaselia claudia Borgmeier, 1967b: 180 View in CoL .

This species was previously known from mainland Australia ( NSW, QSLD) (Borgmeier, 1967b), but is more variable (in colour, size, costal index, costal ratios, relative size of bristles, etc.) than Borgmeier realized. I now report it not only from Tasmania but also Western Australia. However, in the latter region it belongs to a complex of sibling species, of which all but M. claudia View in CoL have yet to be described. The distinctive male hypopygium and the single pair of enormous SPS vesicles in the third antennal segment have proved to be valuable recognition features; but the pair of large vesicles are characteristic of most of the species complex in Western Australia.

Material

Eighteen males, 14 females, Tasmania, Hobart, Battery Point, De Witt Street, garden, 23–31 December 1991 ( R. H. L. Disney —25-4, 34); 28 males, 15 females, same locality, 1–11 January 1992 ( RHLD —25-6, 7, 39); 6 males, 6 females, same locality, 10–12 June 1995 ( RHLD —25-21); male, female, Mt Field National Park, Russell Falls, 26 December 1991 ( RHLD —25-5); male, same locality, 11 January 1992 ( RHLD —25-8); 65 males, 67 females, Hobart, Sandy Bay , Acushla Court, garden, 16–19, 23–26 September 1998 ( RHLD —25-22, 25-4, 25-30); 3 males, Lake St Clair , near Cynthia Bay , 20 September 1998 ( RHLD —25-26). 7 males, Fern Tree, Grays Road, 147°15∞E, 42°57∞S (grid ref. 203474), 540 m altitude, 7–17 August 2000 ( RHLD —25-41-45). 2 males, Western Australia, 33°22∞S, 116°05∞E and 33°24∞S, 116°20∞E, 10–12 October 1996 (Cindy Brown, 25-10 and 13).

Natural history

Two females had the gut full of a brownish sludge of detrital material, one of which included many fungal spores. Several females had a suspension of purplish particles (mostly 1–2 microns in diameter) in the gut. Gravid females had 10–22 nearly mature eggs, the larger specimens having the larger numbers.