Ruppellia thoracica ( Macquart, 1840 )

Badrawy, Haitham B. M. & Mohammad, Salwa K., 2011, Review of Ruppellia Wiedemann, 1830 (Diptera: Therevidae) in the Middle East, Zootaxa 3097, pp. 35-44 : 39-43

Ruppellia thoracica ( Macquart, 1840)

( Figs 3–4 , 14–19, 26–31)

Thereva thoracica Macquart, 1840

Thereva nuda Loew, 1856 syn. nov.

Cataclinoneurum alexandrinum Becker, 1912 Orthactia frontalis Kröber, 1912

Type material. Thereva thoracica Macquart, 1840 : Type, "De l'Egypte", Egypt ( MNHN). Thereva nuda Loew, 1856 : "Abukir", Egypt Holotype female, ( ZMHB).

Cataclinoneurum alexandrinum Becker, 1912 : Holotype male, "Alexandrien" (ZMHB). Orthactia frontalis Kröber, 1912 : Tunis Holotype male 'destroyed' (ZMUH).

Diagnosis. Flagellar style with one segment; mesonotal cuticle grayish yellow to pale-brown with two dark gray, brown or mauve strips at center; mesonotum silver pubescent with sparse, long or short, black setae; scutellum grayish to blackish brown or yellow pubescent; thoracic dc macrosetae: (1–2: 1–2); abdomen with cuticle orange-brown to black dorsally with pale gray and white rings at posterior margins of tergites 1–2, 1–3 or 1–4.

Description. Length: (male) body 5.0–7.0 mm, wing 3.0–5.0 mm; (female) body 6.0–7.0 mm, wing 3.5–5.0 mm.

Male. Head: Ocellar tubercle with brown ocelli, elevated and dark gray with whitish pubescence. Eyes holoptic, pale reddish brown, ommatidia larger in upper half. Frons blackish with white pubescence in lower part of frontal triangle. Lower occiput and gena with dense long white hairs. Antenna shorter than head length, pale brown color. Scape 3 times longer than wide with long dark brown setae. Pedicel nearly square with a few long brown setae. Flagellum slightly bilaterally compressed, as long as scape, covered with black microsetae. Flagellar style one segment with a minute apical spine. Thorax: Mesonotal cuticle pale-brown with two dark gray strips at center. Mesonotum silver pubescent with long, black setae. Scutellum blackish brown pubescent. Pleural cuticle dull gray.

Katepisternum and dorsal part of anepisternum whitish gray pubescent. Thoracic macrosetae: 3 np, 1 sa, 1 pa, (1: 1) dc, 1 sc. Wing membrane translucent light brown, with regular pale brown band, especially around the apical tip of vein R2+3 and along the vein R4. Halter yellowish-white. Legs blackish brown, coxae brown, lightly grayish pubescent. Fore femur blackish brown with 2 setae midway and yellowish in apical part, mid femur dark brown with one seta midway, mid tibia and hind femur and tibia dark brown, tarsi black. Abdomen: Cuticle black dorsally with pale gray and white rings at posterior margins of tergites 1–3, second tergite with broad white ring, first and third tergites with very narrow rings. Gonocoxites with long outer process, sharply pointed; gonostyli elongate, blunted apically; aedeagus with straight and not upright distiphallus; ejaculatory apodeme elongate, in lateral view apically broadened; ventral apodeme bilobed in ventral view broadened.

Female similar to male except as follows:

Head: Frons brilliant dark brown, wider than ocellar tubercle, divergent ventrally, with two pairs of white pubescence at middle and lower parts on the margin. Thorax: Mesonotal cuticle pale-brown with two dark gray strips at center. Scutellum dark grayish pubescent. Wing membrane paler than in males. Legs blackish brown. Abdomen: Cuticle black with pale gray and white rings at posterior margins of tergites 1–4.

Variation. Other specimens from Egypt, males characterized by yellow antennae, mesonotal cuticle grayish yellow with two mauve strips at center, mesonotum with sparse, short, black setae, scutellum dark grayish brown pubescent, thoracic dc macrosetae: (1: 1–2), legs brown, abdomen with cuticle orange dorsally with white rings at posterior margins of tergites 1–2 or 1–4, first tergite brown or yellow with blackish medial tomentum and second tergite with two lateral oblique stripes of grayish tomentum at anterior margin of the tergite, pale brown-yellowish on sternites and laterally on tergites, polished, with sparse, short, whitish setae. In females the mesonotal cuticle is yellow with two mauve or dark yellow strips at center, mesonotum with sparse, short, black setae, scutellum brown pubescent, thoracic dc macrosetae: (2: 2), legs brown, abdomen with cuticle yellow-orange or brown with one faint whitish ring on the second tergite or with white rings at posterior margins of tergites 1–2, 1–3 or 1–4.

Geographical distribution. Egypt, Israel, Libya, Tunisia.

Other specimens examined. EGYPT: Marsa Matrouh 20.VIII.1955 (1 female) ( ASUC); Hamam 10.V.1915 (3 males); Mariut 20.II.1921 (1 male) det. Kröber 1921, 20.VIII.1921 (1 male) det. Kröber 1929; Sakkara 31.III.22 (1 male); Mariut El-Borg 21.V.1925 (1 male); Nozha 14.VII.1927 (1 male); Mallaha Mariut 16.VI.1929 (3 males); Marsa Matrouh VII–VIII.1931 (2 females); W. Sedeisata 8.III.1934 (1 male); Arish 6.V.1934 (1 male), 20.V.1935 (2 males); W. Moweleh 15.VI.1934 (1 male and 1 female); Barage 8.VIII.34 (1 male); W. Rishrash 29.VIII.35 (1 female) [latitude and longitude coordinates, 28.3° – 33.5°]; Fayoum 30.IV.1943 (1 male), 27.IV.1945 (1 female), 9.IV.1946 (1 male), 15.VIII.1946 (1 female); Fayoum Tamiyah 31.III.1947 (2 males); Arish W. El-Makdalm 1.IX.1951 (1 male, Halofylon articulatum); K.64 from Cairo-Fayoum 4.IV.1952 (1 male) ( CUC); King Mariut 15.V.1915 (1 male); Hamam Mariut 16.V.1915 (1 male); Marg 1.IV.1923 (1 male) det. Kröber 1923; Mariut El- Borg 21.V.1925 (1 female); Abu Souer 12.VI.1925 (1 female); W. UM Girfan 22.IV.1927 (1 male) (MAC); Mariut Amria 1.VI.1924 (1 male); Nouzha Alex. 21.VII.1926 (1 female); Mariut Dekhela 7.IX.1925 (1 female) ( AZUC); Arish 20.V.1935 (1 male) det. M. Hauser 2002; Nozha 14.VII.1927 (1 male); Sinai Oasis Ain Hudra 28.55°N / 34.33°E leg. Schmid-Egger 19.IV.2000 (1 female) (MHC). ISRAEL: 5km. W. Yavne, Yavne Dunes el. + 300 ft. nr. Nuclear Research, 31.53.17N/34.42.55E, M. E. Irwin, 3.V.1996 (1 male); Nizzanium Nature Reserve, hand netted in sand patch near dune swales, 31.42.93ºN/34.35.99ºE, M.E. Irwin, 25m, 11.V.2005 (16 males and 2 females) (MHC). TUNISIA: Djerba, Houmt Souk, Straße nach Midoun, 21.V.1993, leg. F.Geller-Grimm (1 female); Chott el Djerid El Faouar, 33.22°N / 08.39°E 10.VI.2000, M. Hauser (1 male); Tabarka, 36.58°N /08.45–55°E, 13.VI.2000, leg. M. Hauser (4 males and 3 females); 26.VI.2001 (2 males); Bizerte, 37.17ºN / 9.52ºE, 23.VI.2001, leg. M. Hauser (2 males) (MHC).

Remarks. Kröber (1929) identified the specimen which was collected from Sakkara 31.III. and deposited in (CUC) as R. thoracica and determined it by himself as [ Orthactia (Rueppellia) thoracica Maq. var., male]. Ruppellia nuda is synonymized by Lyneborg (1980) with semiflava . After we obtained the type picture of this species from Berlin, it is obvious that nuda is conspecific with thoracica .

Figures

FIGURES 3, 4. Ruppellia thoracica (Macquart), lateral view. 3. female type specimen of Thereva nuda Loew syn. nov. 4. male type specimen of Cataclinoneurum alexandrinum (Becker). [from Berlin, M. Hauser (personal communication)]