Asiobaccha sauteri ( Kertész, 1913 ) Mengual, Ximo, 2016

Mengual, Ximo, 2016, A taxonomic revision of the genus Asiobaccha Violovitsh (Diptera: Syrphidae), Journal of Natural History 50, pp. 2585-2645 : 2623-2625

Asiobaccha sauteri ( Kertész, 1913) comb. nov.

( Figure 9c, d, f )

Baccha sauteri Kertész, 1913: 275 . Lectotype: ♂, RMNH, here designated. Type locality: Taiwan, Hengchun Township. Sack 1922: 261; Shiraki 1930: 414, 416; Knutson et al. 1975: 324.

Differential diagnosis

Asiobaccha sauteri has no alula, the anal lobe is reduced, and the cell C microtrichose ( Figure 9c, d ). This species is distinguishable from other species by yellow markings on abdomen and by the absence of an alula.

Variation. Some specimens have two small yellow maculae on tergum 4 anterobasally without reaching any margin. Specimens collected in Philippines and Sulawesi are darker than the other studied individuals, with the face entirely black (see Figure 9f ). At first, the author thought about describing a new species, but the variability of the dark areas in the face and pleuron as well as in the abdomen makes this option risky. These specimens have scutum and scutellum black and face black, except the female from Sulawesi that has black face and yellow scutellum.

Length (N = 5). Body, 13.2 – 15.5 (14.6) mm; wing, 11.0 – 12.5 (11.9) mm.

Geographical distribution

Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia (Sulawesi) and Philippines (Luzon).

Type locality

Taiwan: Pingtung County, Hengchun Township [=Koshun], 21°58 ʹ N, 120°45 ʹ E.

Material examined

Type material. Lectotype, male, deposited in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, The Netherlands) and labelled as indicated below (specimen photographed). Paralectotype: ‘ Formosa // Sauter ’ ‘ Koshun // 909.III. ’ ‘ Baccha // sauteri Kert // typus // det. Kertész ’ [handwritten except fourth line; third line in red] ‘ Baccha // sauteri // n. sp. ’ ‘ SYNTYPE ’ [red] ‘ Baccha // Sauteri // Kertész, 1913 // ZMAN type DIPT.1769.1 ’ [red] ‘ PARALECTOTYPE // Asiobaccha // sauteri // det. X. Mengual 2014 ’ [yellow, second and third lines handwritten] [1♀, RMNH]; ‘ Formosa // Sauter ’ ‘ Fuhosho // 909.VII. ’ ‘ Baccha // sauteri Kert // Typus // det. Kertész ’ ‘ Col. // Klöcker ’ ‘ PARALECTOTYPE // Asiobaccha // sauteri // det. X. Mengual 20 14’ [yellow, second and third lines handwritten] [1♀, ZMUC]; ‘ Formosa // Sauter ’ ‘ Koshun // 1908.X. ’ ‘ Baccha // sauteri Kert // Typus // det. Kertész ’ ‘ TYPUS ’ [red] ‘ Baccha // sauteri // Kertesz’ ‘ Baccha // sauteri // R. FREY det. ’ ‘ PARALECTOTYPE // Asiobaccha // sauteri // det. X. Mengual 20 14’ [yellow, second and third lines handwritten] [1♀, CNC]; ‘ Formosa // Sauter ’ ‘ Koshun // 1908.X. ’ ‘ Baccha // sauteri Kert // Typus // det. Kertész ’ ‘ Spec. typ. No ’ ‘ PARALECTOTYPE // Asiobaccha // sauteri // det. X. Mengual 20 14’ [yellow, second and third lines handwritten] [1♀, MZH].

Nontype material. INDONESIA: Central Sulawesi Prov., Lore-Lindu N.P., nr Dongi – Dongi shelter, ca. 1100 m, 1°15 ’ S, 120°20 ʹ E, 6 – 9 December 1985, Mal. trap 6 (PW58), C.v. Achterberg [1♀, RMNH]. PHILIPPINES: Palawan Island, Mantalingajan, Tagembung , 150 m, 18 September 1961, Noona Dan Exp. 61 – 62 [1♂, ZMUC];..., 19 September 1961,... [♀, ZMUC]; Luzon, Mt. Banahaw (spelled as Banahao), P.L. Baker [1♂, USNM, USNMENT 00890741 ]. TAIWAN: Tapani, March 1911, Sauter [♂ USNM, USNM ENT 00890761 ]; Taito, 25 February – 27 March 1919, S. Inamura, J. Sonan and M. Yoshino [1♂ 1sp., CNC]. VIETNAM: Kon Tum Province, Chu Mon Ray N.P., 700 – 900 m, 26 September – 5 October 2006, Mai Phu Quy and Nguyen Thanh Manh, Mal. traps [1♀, RMNH; 1♀, ZFMK, ZFMKDIP 00011942 ] .

Remarks

Kertész (1913) based his new species on several specimens, male and female individuals, from different localities of Taiwan: Takao (8 November 1907) [now known as Kaohsiung], Janano-Taiko (October 1908), Kosempo (20 January 1908, 21 March 1908, June 1908), Tainan (February 1909), Koshun (October 1908, March 1909) [now known as Hengchun], Fuhosho (July 1909) and Sokotsu (May 1912). The author assumes that the Kertész ’ s collection was deposited at the Hungarian Natural History Museum (HNHM) and that most of this material perished in a fire in 1956, as did most of the Syrphidae collection. This fact has been corroborated by HNHM personnel.

Kertész (1913) did not designate a holotype in his work. Only two male and three female syntypes were available for this study. Among the syntypes, there is a pinned male at RMNH labelled: ‘ Formosa // Sauter ’ ‘ Koshun // 909.III. ’ ‘ Baccha // sauteri Kert // typus // det. Kertész ’ [handwritten except fourth line; third line in red] ‘ SYNTYPE ’ [red] ‘ Baccha // Sauteri // Kertész, 1913 // ZMAN type DIPT.1769.2 ’ [red] ‘ LECTOTYPE // Asiobaccha // sauteri // de s. X. Mengual 20 14’ [red; second and third lines handwritten]. This specimen is here designated as lectotype to fix and ensure the universal and consistent interpretation of the name. The other female syntypes have been labelled as paralectotype.

The second male syntype at RMNH is labelled as follows: ‘ Formosa // Sauter ’ ‘ Koshun // 909.III. ’ ‘ Baccha // sauteri Kert // typus // det. Kertész ’ [handwritten except fourth line; third line in red] ‘ SYNTYPE ’ [red] ‘ Baccha // Sauteri // Kertész, 1913 // ZMAN type DIPT.1769.3 ’ [red]. This male specimen is missing the entire abdomen, but the most important characteristic is that it has a very narrow, linear alula. This specimen keys out to another species in the present identification key, A. tripartita , but this male has alula microtrichose and linear, not bare and triangular as in A. tripartita . At this moment, the author cannot identify this syntype without doubt and prefers to leave this specimen without species name.

There is another male, deposited at the USNM, studied and identified by Kertész (original handwriting on the identification label), which is not listed in the original description. Thus, it is not included in the type series, although it bears a ‘ typus ’ label.

Specimens from Philippines are darker than other studied specimens as mentioned above. The female from Sulawesi has a bit more different abdominal colouration, but this came out of a Malaise trap and it was dried out using the alcohol/xylene-amyl acetate method ( van Achterberg et al. 2010). These specimens might represent a different species or just a local variation of A. sauteri .

Figures

Figure 9. Asiobaccha samoaensis Mengual sp. nov. a–b, e, holotype ♂. (a) Dorsal view; (b) lateral view; (e) frontal view. Asiobaccha sauteri (Kertész). c–d, f, lectotype ♂. (c) Dorsal view; (d) lateral view; (f) frontal view. Scale bars: a–d = 2 mm; e, f = 1 mm.