Cryptochetum turanicum Nartshuk, 1979

Papp, László, Barták, Miroslav, Kubík, Štěpán & Civelek, Hasan S., 2018, Cryptochetidae (Diptera): first record of the family from Turkey, Turkish Journal of Zoology 42, pp. 113-117 : 113-116

Cryptochetum turanicum Nartshuk, 1979

The emergence of another widely distributed and frequently introduced species, Cryptochetum (Lestophonus) iceryae (Williston, 1888) , introduced also to the New World ( McAlpine, 1987), should be taken into consideration when working on cryptochetid material from the Palearctic region. We do not list here Cryptochetum species from China and Japan; rather, we refer to the book chapter of Yang and Yang (1998: 97) and to the paper of Yuqiang and Yang (2015).

Together with the species of Cryptochetum ghanii Steyskal, 1971 (p. 48), which was omitted from the catalog, and including the recently described species, a total of 30+ species have been described hitherto.

The cryptochetids are mostly seldom collected; Foote and Arnaud (1958) witnessed one of the few exceptions. Twenty specimens are preserved in the Collection of the Czech University of Life Sciences , Prague ( Czech Republic, below CULSP), including the specimens from Turkey in the present paper. Ninety-seven cryptochetid specimens are preserved in the Diptera Collection , Hungarian Natural History Museum (Budapest) (below HNHM) .

Cryptochetum grandicorne Rondani, 1875

Known from its type locality (vicinity of Parma, Italy), some other localities in Italy ( Süss, 1984), from France, Crete, and Algeria ( Hennig, 1937, etc.). Its records from Japan and Taiwan are based on misidentifications.

Material studied: 1 male ( HNHM, glued on a small card with an almost illegible label, which was transcribed by the first author in about 1980): “ Cryptochaetum grandicorne Rond. parasite de Guerinia serratulae , Europe, Afrique”. We simply do not know anything about the origin of the specimen. We may presume that it was captured and labeled prior to the description of C. buccatum Hendel, 1933 , so we felt prompted to corroborate its species identity and listed this record herewith. Another 1 male ( CULSP, abdomen with genitalia prepared and kept in a plastic microvial with glycerol): Turkey mer. Nur Dağlari Mts. 30 km E Osmaniye Hasanbeyli 1200 m, B. Mocek, 5.5.1996. New for the fauna of Turkey .

The excellent figures on male genitalia by Süss (1984: figs. 4 and 5) fixed the status of this species correctly. The genitalia of our specimen from Turkey are the same in details as Süss’s from Italy.

Cryptochetum jorgepastori Cahadia, 1984

It was described from Spain (as Cryptochaetum ), type locality Punta Umbria (Huelva), and found also at Cabrils, Barcelona ( Carles-Tolrá, 1992), known from Andorra ( Carles-Tolrá and Pujade-Villar, 2003), and from Israel (Mendel et al., 2008).

Material studied: 7 males (6 males in CULSP, 1 male in the HNHM): Turkey , Muğla, University Campus , 710 m, MT, 37°09′39″N, 28°22′20″E, Barták, Kubík, xi– iii.2013 ; 1 male ( CULSP): ibid., Muğla, Univ. Campus , 720 m, MT, 2015, 37°09′42″N, 28°22′13″E, 26.vi–3.iii ; 1 female ( CULSP): Muğla, 700 m, Univ. Campus, Malaise tr. 37°09′42″N, 28°22′21″E, O. Dursun, v. 2013. New for the fauna of Turkey .

The genitalia of our specimen from Turkey are obviously the same as given in the original description but those figures are poor. In order to facilitate a safer and quicker identification, we made four figures of the male genitalia from the present material.

Body characteristics as in C. grandicorne , except for those mentioned in the key. Male genitalia with epandrium strongly narrowed dorsally ( Figure 1), epandrium actually consists of two halves, dorsally connected only by membrane ( Figure 2). Surstyli short, symmetrical, quadratic with some medium-long apical setae. Hypandrium ( Figure 3) broad L-shaped in profile, its ventral part with small elliptic white spots (they are without emerging setulae). Pre- and postgonites partly fused to hypandrium ( Figure 3). Phallus very thin, curved along a broad arch, apex sharp. Basiphallus compact. No phallic guide (x of Süss, 1984: figs. 4 and 5) discernible. Phallapodeme broad, oval in dorsal view ( Figure 4), circular with rather thin walls. Female piecing ovipositor (sternite 8, see McAlpine, 1987) long, very thin, apex sharp.

A key for the identification of Cryptochetum Rondani species from Turkey

1. Male epandrium broad also dorsally, surstyli asymmetrical ( Süss, 1984: figs. 4 and 5). Male cercus much shorter than the height of epandrium-surstylar complex. Inner genitalia with distinct phallic guide ( Süss, 1984: fig. 4), phallic apodeme narrow. .................................................... ................................................. C. grandicorne Rondani, 1875

- Male epandrium strongly narrowed dorsally, surstyli symmetrical ( Figures 1 and 2). Male cercus almost as high as epandrium-surstylar complex. Inner genitalia ( Figure 3) without a phallic guide, phallic apodeme broad ( Figure 4). .................................................. C. jorgepastori Cahadia, 1984

The Dipteran fauna of Turkey remains still unsatisfactorilyexplored.Altogether 2992 Dipteraspecies, belonging to 963 genera and 72 families, were listed by Koçak and Kemal (2013). Species of Cryptochetidae family have actual or potential importance in biological control of scale insect pests ( Mendel and Blumberg, 1991; Bennett, 1993; Mendel et. al., 1998). First records of the family Cryptochetidae from Turkey are given. Two species of the family are first recorded from Turkey.

Cryptochetum buccatum Hendel, 1933 has been known from Germany from its type locality (Carolinenhof bei Grünau, nr. Berlin), from some localities of Spain ( Carles-Tolrá, 1990, 1992, 1993), and from Andorra ( Carles-Tolrá and Pujade-Villar, 2003). It is expected to occur also in Turkey. This species may be differentiated from the two above ones by the first flagellomere three times as long as broad (see Hennig, 1937: figs. 96, 98) and the second costal section on wing three times as long as fourth section (see Hennig, 1937: fig. 99). On the contrary, in two species hitherto known from Turkey, the first flagellomere is only slightly more than twice longer than broad (Cahadia, 1984: figs. 4d, 5) and the second costal section at most twice as long as fourth section ( Hennig, 1937: fig. 100; Cahadia, 1984: fig. 6).

Several species of the Cryptochetidae belong to that minority of the Diptera for which the life-habits are rather well known. Contrarily, the cryptochetids are seldom collected. In the otherwise rich collection of the HNHM there are only 97 cryptochetid specimens. For instance, we found only four specimens among the 15,000 specimens collected in Thailand. There may be numerous undescribed species, particularly from the Oriental and Afrotropical regions.

Application of Malaise traps seems to be a good method for their collection but this method also does not yield many specimens. The best known cryptochetid fauna in Europe is that of Spain’s, but we think the above three species must occur also in some other European countries.

Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by an S grant of MSMT (Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, Czech Republic). We are grateful to Dr Ashley Kirk-Spriggs ( South Africa) for advice and information on Cryptochetidae and for