Prosimulium (Prosimulium) latimucro (Enderlein)

Crosskey, Roger W. & Crosskey, Margaret E., 2000, An investigation of the black ¯ y fauna of Andalusia, southern Spain (Diptera: Simuliidae), Journal of Natural History 34 (6), pp. 895-951 : 913-914

4. Prosimulium (Prosimulium) latimucro (Enderlein)

Spain references: Grenier and Bertrand (1954, as hirtipes ), Grenier & Dorier (1959, as hirtipes ), Carlsson (1969, as ru®pes and inātum ), Beaucournu-Saguez (1975, as Prosimulium sp. ), GonzaÂlez PenÄa (1990), VincËon and Clergue-Gazeau (1993), GonzaÂlez (1997).

Andalusia records

Authors’ material. Site 116: 1 larva (gillspot). Site 118: 1 pupa, 8 larvae (23.iii.1996). Site 119: 9 pupae (includes 8 exuviae) (8.iv.1994), 1m (1), 18 larvae (23.iii.1996).

Other specimens seen. Granada: 1, l RõÂo LanjaroÂn , 9 km NW of Orgiva, 1600 m [VF58], 7.v.1966 (Lyneborg and Langemark) ( ZMC); 8, l 3m, Sierra Nevada, N slope of Veleta, 2200/ 2400 m [ VG60 ], 30.vii.1960 (Vockeroth) (5, l 2m CNC, 1, l 1m ZMC, 2 lBMNH) [listed as `Prosimulium ru®pes ’ in Carlsson, 1969] .

Previous reports. JaeÂn: Sierra de Almaden, RõÂo Fuenmayor [VG57] and Sierra de Cazorla, Cabanas [WG08]; AlmerõÂa: Sierra de Filabres, Calar Alto [WG42], Granada: Sierra Nevada, RõÂo Monachil and a‚uent of RõÂo MulhaceÂn [VG60/VG70] (ref. VincËon and Clergue-Gazeau, 1993). (Also Carlsson, 1969: see data for specimens seen.)

Allowing for identi®cation di culties the following reports probably apply to P. latimucro , namely Granada: Val de R. San Juan and Val TreveÂlez [VG70] (Grenier and Bertrand, 1954, misident.`hirtipes ’); Sierra Nevada , near summit of Picacho de Veleta [VG60] (Beaucournu-Saguez, 1975a, as Prosimulium sp. ).

Remarks

This species has been con®rmed only from mountainous areas of eastern Andalusia, Sierra Nevada and the headwater region of the Guadalquivir. Carlsson (1969) identi®ed wild-caught adult Prosimulium from the Sierra Nevada as P. inātum (now synonymous with P. latimucro ) and P. ru®pes and this is the basis for the appearance of these species on maps in GonzaÂlez PenÄa (1990). Carlsson’s identi®cations relied, however, on characters such as leg colour (a variable feature) and did not take into account the critical speci®c diOEerences in the female terminalia. We have seen the material on which Carlsson worked and it shows that the specimens he identi®ed as P. ru®pes are in fact P. latimucro , as con®rmed by slides made of the female terminalia, which show the long pointed tongue-like ovipositor valves of P. latimucro instead of the rather short and bluntly rounded valves characteristic of P. ru®pes (illustrations in Zwick, 1974). Carlsson’s identi®cation clearly was based on the assumption that reddish yellow legs are uniquely diagnostic for P. ru®pes. However, our reared adult of P. latimucro (Site 119), its identity con®rmed by the ovipositor valves, has largely reddish yellow legs and it is thus impossible to rely on leg colour for separating females of P. ru®pes and P. latimucro ; in northern Europe the legs of latimucro females are uniformly dark.