Beris obscura MEIGEN , 1820

Zeegers, Theo, 2021, Notes on the types of Beris LATREILLE, 1802 (Diptera, Stratiomyidae) in the Meigen collection, Linzer biologische Beiträge 53 (1), pp. 431-435 : 432-433

Beris obscura MEIGEN, 1820

Beris obscura was described by Meigen from a single female, sent to him by Baumhauer. Already when Meigen got the specimen, the hind legs were missing ( MEIGEN 1820, MORGE 1975). Four specimens, 2 males and 2 females, in the Meigen collection are labelled as syntypes. Only one (catalogue number MNHN ED 3731) is a female with missing hind legs. It is in perfect agreement with the original illustration ( MORGE 1975) and it is accepted to be the holotype. MEIGEN (1820) compared Beris obscura with Beris (currently: Chorisops) tibialis, the type is clearly a female Beris though (eye hairy, palpus absent). The broad vertex, yellow femora and tibiae and dark tarsi make an identification as Beris chalybata obvious. This synonymy was already established by ROZKOŠNÝ (1982). Note that Beris obscura STROBL, 1910 nec MEIGEN, 1820 is a different taxon, currently known as Beris strobli .

The other three specimens labelled as syntypes cannot be syntypes, since the description was explicitly based on one female specimen. One (ED 3730) is a male Beris chalybata , one male (ED3732) and one female (ED3733) belong to Beris morrisii DALE, 1841 as already observed by WOODLEY (2001). Since the other specimens are no types, there are no nomenclatoric consequences for the name Beris morrisii .