Sarcophaga (Heteronychia) thirionae ( Lehrer, 1976 )

Whitmore, Daniel, 2009, A review of the Sarcophaga (Heteronychia) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) of Sardinia *, Zootaxa 2318, pp. 566-588 : 582-583

Sarcophaga (Heteronychia) thirionae ( Lehrer, 1976)

( Fig. 18)

Leclercqiomyia thirionae Lehrer, 1976: 197 . Type locality: Turkey, Gemlik. Heteronychia (Ctenodasypygia) penicillata Villeneuve, 1907 : Povolný 1992: 181, figs 3, 6 (misidentification); Povolný 1996: 91–92, figs 2–3 (misidentification).

Type material examined. Holotype ♂: TURQUIE / Bursa: / Gemlik / 28.7.67 // Leclercqiomyia n.g. / thirionae n. sp. / Det. LEHRER // Holotypus / Det. LEHRER // HOLOTYPE ( FSAG) [terminalia on a slide, separate from rest of specimen].

Material from Sardinia. A21: 25.V.2006, 0\3. C26: 24.V.2006, 1\0. S2: 25.IX.2004, hn, DB PC FM DW, 2\0. W02: 17.VII.2004, 1\0.

Additional material. Algeria. Mascara, IV.09, NC, 1\0 ( IRSNB) . Greece. Attikí, Akropolis, 31.V.92, DP ,

4\0 ( MMBC, as “ Heteronychia penicillata det. Povolný ”); Crete, Agios Konstantinous, 13 km SE Malia , 27.VI.1979, swept in dry riverbed, LC, 1\0 ( ZMUC) .

Chorotype. Mediterranean.

Italian distribution. Sardinia.

Biology. Povolný (1992) observed specimens in copula and females larvipositing on terrestrial molluscs (probably of the genus Helicella ) on the coasts of the Black Sea in southern Bulgaria.

Remarks. Povolný (1992: 181, figs 3, 6; 1996: 91–92, figs 2–3) misidentified specimens of Sarcophaga (Heteronychia) thirionae from Bulgaria and Greece as “ Heteronychia penicillata ” (his detailed illustrations leave very little doubt as to the identity of these specimens as S. (H.) thirionae ). The same author was most probably referring to S. thirionae also when mentioning S. penicillata from Sardinia (Povolný 1997), as no specimens of this species from Sardinia were found in Povolný’s collection (MMBC); S. penicillata is therefore excluded from the Sardinian fauna. Böttcher (1913b, as Sarcophaga uncicurva Pandellé, 1896 ) may have misidentified one or more specimens of S. thirionae from mainland Italy (Pavia), although his schematic illustration ( Böttcher 1913b:127, fig. 52) leaves some doubt. Sarcophaga (Heteronchia) thirionae is known with certainty from Algeria (above record), Bulgaria ( Povolný 1992, 1996, as “ Heteronychia penicillata ”), Greece [above records and Povolný (1996, as “ Heteronychia penicillata ”)], Sardinia (present records), and Anatolia (type locality), and is here formally recorded from Europe and North Africa for the first time (cf. Pape 1996, 2004a). I have examined several specimens of a closely related, undescribed species from mainland Italy, Sicily and Croatia (CNBFVR, MMBC, MZUR).