Lucilia rectinevris, Macquart, 1851

Pont, Adrian C., 2012, Muscoidea (Fanniidae, Anthomyiidae, Muscidae) described by P. J. M. Macquart (Insecta, Diptera), Zoosystema 34 (1), pp. 39-111 : 83-84

rectinevris Macquart, 1851 , Lucilia

Lucilia rectinevris Macquart, 1851b: 221 ( 1851d: 248) , pl. 23, fig. 3 (as rectinevres, err. typ.). Lectotype ♀, “de l’île Bourbon. M. Bigot.” ( La Réunion), by present designation, in BMNH.

The name was printed as rectinevres in the description, but was correctly spelled rectinevris in the legend to pl. 23 and in the index (page 330).

MATERIAL. — There is 1 ♀ syntype in that part of the Bigot collection now in the BMNH. It is in poor condition: very dirty, with left foreleg, right mid leg, both hind legs and most of right wing missing. It is labelled by Macquart “ Lucilia / rectinevris / ♀. Macq.”, and stands over Bigot’s drawer label “S. [ Somomya ] rectinevris. ♀. / Lucilia . id. M. / Ins. Borbon. Macq.”. I have labelled it and designate it herewith as lectotype.

CURRENT IDENTITY. — The lectotype belongs to the genus Neomyia Walker, 1859 , and is a junior synonym of N. peronii (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) (syn: cyanea Fabricius, 1781 , preocc.) as currently understood ( Zielke 1971: 183, as cyanea ) (see Pont 1980: 729).

There has been considerable confusion between this name, Lucilia rectinevris Macquart, 1851 , which is a Malagasy muscid, and another species described by Macquart with the same name and combination, Lucilia rectinevris Macquart, 1855 , which is an Oriental calliphorid. For example, Brauer (1899: 525) combined the two names, listing two specimens in Bigot’s collection under rectinevris , from “ Insel Bourbon”:he listed one specimen without head as a? Lucilia (this is the unique syntype of L. rectinevris Macquart, 1855 , the Oriental calliphorid) and listed the second with a projecting mouth-edge as? Cosmina (this is the lectotype of L. rectinevris Macquart, 1851 , the Malagasy muscid). Aubertin added to the confusion since she realised that there were two different but homonymous names involved but she failed to disentangle the material ( Aubertin 1932: 143; 1933: 430): she stated that L. rectinevris of 1851 was an unrecognized species of Lucilia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 , whilst L. rectinevris of 1855 was in part a synonym of Orthellia (now Neomyia ) peronii and in part an unrecognizable (headless) Lucilia . To summarize: the lectotype of rectinevris Macquart, 1851 , is in the BMNH; it is from île Bourbon ( La Réunion) and is a junior synonym of Neomyia peronii (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) (Muscidae) ; the syntype ♀ of L. rectinevris Macquart, 1855 is also in the BMNH and lacks a head; it is from the East Indies, and is a junior synonym of Hemipyrellia ligurriens (Wiedemann, 1830) (Calliphoridae) (J. P. Dear pers. comm.) (n. syn.). This rectinevris (of 1855) was erroneously included by me as an unrecognized species of Orthellia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863 (now = Neomyia Walker, 1859 ) ( Pont 1977b: 465).

Macquart himself must have been confused by this because in box H of the Macquart collection in MHNL, there is a ♂ over the name “ Lucilia / rectinevris / Ind. Bigot” (i.e. rectinevris of 1855), which is actually the Afrotropical Neomyia peronii !