Saropogon elbaiensis Efflatoun, 1937

Londt, Jason G. H., 1997, Afrotropical Asilidae (Diptera) 29. A review of the genus Saropogon Loew, 1847 (Dasypogoninae), ANNALS OF THE NATAL MUSEUM 38, pp. 137-157 : 140-141

Saropogon elbaiensis Efflatoun, 1937

Saropogon elbaiensis Eftlatoun, 1937: 394 --7 figs 309-310 head, 311-312 d gen., Plate viii fig. 80 whole d; Hull, 1962: 278; Oldroyd, 1980: 367.

This species was described from a short series collected during April and May 1929 at Gebel Elba (22° 11 'N: 36°21 'E) by M. Tewfik ( Efflatoun 1937). While Efflatoun included the species in a review of Egyptian asilids the locality is in the north-eastern part of Sudan, close to the Egyptian border, and should therefore be included in any study of the afrotropical fauna. Both Hull (1962) and Oldroyd (1980) correctly dealt with the species in this way. Unfortunately the whereabouts of the type specimens is not known and so they could not be studied.

In describing elbaiensis Efflatoun remarked that it was 'closely allied to S. alternatus Lw. , from British Baluchistan (Quetta, 6000 ft.) but is easily distinguished from it by antennae, wing-venation and the design on the abdomen.' According to Lehr (1988), S. alternatus has been recorded from 'USSR: SMA' (Soviet Middle Asia) and Iran - some distance from Sudan.

I have studied a defective specimen (lacking terminalia) from BMNH which is labelled 'Niboi / 7.vi.22 '; 'Kenya Colony / Northern Frontier Dist. / Juba River. / Dr. J. O. Beven'; ' Saropogon / sp? / near alternatus'; 'Pres. by / Imp. Inst. Ent. / Brit. Mus. / 1931- 138'. Kenyan gazetteers available to me do not list Juba River. The only Juba I found is in Sudan (4°S 0'N: 31 °3S'E) and so it seems likely that this specimen may belong to elbaiensis . If this is true the specimen must be a female as the abdomen is very largely red-brown in colour (the male's being almost entirely blackish). Although this damaged specimen agrees in most respects with the description given by Efflatoun I am not entirely confident of the identification. For the present I exclude this species from my key due to the absence of good comparative material.