Scatophaga Fabricius, 1805

Michelsen, Verner & O’Hara, James E., 2014, A review of genus-group names in Diptera (Insecta) that J. C. Fabricius “ borrowed ” from other dipterists and proposed as new in his systematic works from 1775 to 1805, Zootaxa 3873 (1), pp. 73-81 : 75-76

Scatophaga Fabricius, 1805 : x, 203.

Type species: Musca fimetaria Linnaeus, 1761 (the 5th of 31 originally included species), by present designation. Junior objective synonym of Psila Meigen, 1803 (type species: Musca fimetaria Linnaeus, 1761 ), syn. n. ( Psilidae ).

Remarks. Scathophaga Meigen, 1803 , originally proposed for dung flies (“ Musca merdaria etc. Fabricius”) of the family Scathophagidae , was cited by Fabricius (1805: 306, misspelled as Scatophaga ) under Musca merdaria Fabricius, 1794 (= Musca stercoraria Linnaeus, 1758 ). Other species of the current genus Scathophaga Meigen (e.g., scybalaria Linnaeus, 1758 and lutaria Fabricius, 1794) were also consistently classified in Musca Linnaeus, 1758 by Fabricius (1805). However, Fabricius (1805: 203–210) proposed a different usage of the name Scatophaga for 31 species of mostly testaceous acalyptrate flies with a short, porrect antennal postpedicel. Most of the included species belong to the families Sciomyzidae , Lauxaniidae and Ulidiidae . Species of Scathophaga Meigen are different in having antennae with a longer, deflexed postpedicel. Only a single species ( Musca suilla Fabricius, 1794 ) among the 31 species originally included in Scatophaga Fabricius belongs to the Scathophagidae . The identity of that nominal species is treated below.

The different usage of the name Scatophaga introduced by Fabricius (1805), which embraces a poorly defined assemblage of mostly acalyptrate flies, has consistently been overlooked (or ignored?) by dipterists up to the present. Adding to the confusion, Meigen (1826) adopted Fabricius’s spelling “ Scatophaga ” for his own genus of dung flies without, of course, adopting Fabricius’s usage of the name. This should be categorized as an “incorrect subsequent spelling” of Scathophaga Meigen , even though it may well have been done deliberately.

The present fixation of a type species refers Scatophaga Fabricius to the Psilidae . Note that Scatophaga Fabricius, 1805 and Scathophaga Meigen, 1803 are not homonyms according to the Code Article 56.2 (one letter difference).