Acnephalomyia eremia Londt, 2010

Blee, Tayler, Cabrero, Allan & Dikow, Torsten, 2025, Namib Desert Asiloidea (Diptera) 1. A review of the assassin-fly genus Acnephalomyia Londt, 2010 (Asilidae) with the description of a new species, African Invertebrates 66 (2), pp. 251-271 : 251-271

Acnephalomyia eremia Londt, 2010

Figs 3 B – D , 6 , 11 B

Links.

ZooBank https://zoobank.org/ 59C30BB4-227C-4B1D-AC4B-9B157DEB1824.

GBIF https://www.gbif.org/species/8978948.

Plazi TreatmentBank https://treatment.plazi.org/id/ FA455017-FFF0-AD6E-FE29-74BA4E61FDA4.

iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1567030-Acnephalomyia-eremia.

Type locality.

Namibia: Erongo: The Far East, 15 km NW ( 23°39'38"S, 015°40'46"E, updated more precise coordinates).

Material examined.

Holotype. Namibia – Erongo • 1 ♂ The Far East , 15 km NW; [ 23°39'38"S, 015°40'46"E]; 08 Aug 1982; Praetorius, Leon leg.; dune, NMSA -DIP 073854 ; NMSA .

Other material. Namibia – Erongo • 1 ♀ Namib-Naukluft National Park, Gobabeb 20 km NW on D 1983, Kuiseb riverbed ; 23°24'31"S, 014°54'13"E; 320 m a. s. l.; 21 Oct. 2024; collected p. m. (15: 00–18: 00); Cabrero, Allan, Dikow, Torsten leg.; margin of dry riverbed, perching on sand, USNMENT 02018210 ; NMNW • 1 ♀ 1 ♂ Namib-Naukluft National Park, Gobabeb, small dunes S of station ; 23°34'01"S, 015°02'56"E; 403 m a. s. l.; 23 Sep 2019; collected a. m. (9: 00 – noon); Dikow, Torsten, Cabrero, Allan leg.; small dunes, perching on sand, USNMENT 01519438 , USNMENT 01519439 ; USNM • 1 ♀ Namib-Naukluft National Park, Gobabeb, small dunes W of Kuiseb River ; 23°33'50"S, 015°01'59"E; 398 m a. s. l.; 25 Sep 2019; collected p. m. (15: 00–18: 00); Dikow, Torsten, Cabrero, Allan leg.; perching on sand, USNMENT 01519486 ; USNM • 5 ♀ 2 ♂ Namib-Skeleton Coast National Park, Gobabeb ; 23°33'52"S, 015°02'07"E; 398 m a. s. l.; 27 Sep 2017; collected a. m. (9: 00 – noon); Dikow, Torsten leg.; small vegetated dunes, perching on sand, USNMENT 01384004 , USNMENT 01384050 , USNMENT 01384095 , USNMENT 01384110 , USNMENT 01384120 , USNMENT 01396557 , USNMENT 01456200 ; USNM • 5 ♀ 4 ♂ Namib-Skeleton Coast National Park, Gobabeb, dunes W of Kuiseb riverbed ; 23°33'48"S, 015°01'58"E; 401 m a. s. l.; 28 Sep 2017; collected a. m. (9: 00 – noon); Dikow, Torsten leg.; partly vegetated dune, perching on sand, USNMENT 01384036 , USNMENT 01384062 , USNMENT 01384094 , USNMENT 01384932 , USNMENT 01384933 , USNMENT 01384934 , USNMENT 01406050 , USNMENT 01406052 , USNMENT 01406054 ; USNM .

Namibia – Hardap • 2 ♀ Namib-Naukluft National Park, Gobabeb, Kahani dunes ; 23°36'14"S, 015°00'40"E; 474 m a. s. l.; 25 Sep 2019; collected p. m. (15: 00–18: 00); Dikow, Torsten, Cabrero, Allan leg.; base of high dune with Stipagrostis hammocks, perching horizontally on low vegetation, USNMENT 01519464 , USNMENT 01519475 ; USNM • 1 ♀ Namib-Naukluft National Park, Gobabeb, Kahani dunes ; 23°36'20"S, 015°00'46"E; 452 m a. s. l.; 23 Oct 2024; collected a. m. (9: 00 – noon); Cabrero, Allan, Dikow, Torsten leg.; high dune, E facing side, perching on sand, USNMENT 02018419 ; NMNW .

Namibia – Karas • 1 ♂ Sylvia Hill , 15 km NE; [ 25°03'31"S, 014°57'52"E]; 15–16 Sep 1971; NMNW -H 4120 ; NMNW .

Diagnosis.

The species is distinguished from congeners by the overall white setation (especially males, females with some yellowish setae on thorax), the presence of white setation on the postero-dorsal katepisternum, the presence of macrosetae on the postpronotal lobe, the entirely hyaline wings and the restricted distribution in the Namib Sand Sea of the Namib Desert.

Distribution, biodiversity hotspots, endemism, seasonal imago flight activity and biology.

Known from eight localities, several of them near each other, associated with sand dunes in the northern part of the southern Namib Desert, with one locality in the central-western area (Fig. 11 B ). A somewhat rarely collected species known from 25 specimens of which the majority was collected since 2017 (Table 2 ). The species is not known to occur in any currently recognised biodiversity hotspot, but is endemic to the Namib Desert and likely the Namib Sand Sea in particular. Adult flies are active in spring (August to October) (Table 3 ). Nothing is known of the biology.

Figures

Figure 3. Photographs of Acnephalomyia species in nature. A. Acnephalomyia andrenoides female perching at Rocherpan NR, Western Cape, South Africa, 20 Sep 2017 (32 ° 37 ' 01 " S, 018 ° 17 ' 53 " E); B – D. A. eremia on small dune with dry ! nara plant (Cucurbitaceae, Acanthosicyos horridus), Gobabeb, Namib-Naukluft NP, Erongo, Namibia, 27 Sep 2017 (23 ° 33 ' 52 " S, 015 ° 02 ' 07 " E); B. Male perching; C. Female perching; D. Female ovipositing. Photographs by T. Dikow.

Figure 6. Acnephalomyia eremia. A. ♂ (USNMENT 01519438, images at FigShare https://doi.org/10.25573/data.30142306), dorsal; B. Same, lateral; C. Same, head anterior; D. ♀ (USNMENT 01519439, FigShare https://doi.org/10.25573/data.30142321), head anterior; E. Same, dorsal; F. Same, lateral. Scale bar: 5 mm.

Figure 11. Distribution of Acnephalomyia species in the southern Namib Desert. A. Acnephalomyia andrenoides, red circles, A. metallicoindica sp. nov., purple circles; B. A. eremia, red circles, A. platygaster, purple circles. White outline = type locality. Occurrence data available at GBIF (dataset https://www.gbif.org/dataset/aef90774-efd0-4629-80ce-85bc4cbe24e8, DOI 10.15468/2bbawn).