Medetera diadema (Linnaeus, 1767)

Kejval, Zbyněk & Pollet, Marc, 2023, The genus Medetera (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) in the Czech Republic with first records of twelve species, Zootaxa 5254 (1), pp. 69-93 : 76-77

Medetera diadema (Linnaeus, 1767)

( Fig. 2 )

Material examined. Bohemia: Raná (5548), 15.viii.1962, J. Hodek lgt., 1 ♁ 1 ♀ ( NMPC) . Veselí nad Lužnicí (6854), house wall, 15.vii.2005, J. Máca lgt., M. Pollet det., 1 ♀ ( JMC) ; ditto, 1.viii.2005, J. Máca lgt., M. Pollet det., 1 ♁ ( JMC) .

Moravia: Bělá (6074), 49°58′39″N 18°8′49″E, 280 m, sheep pasture, on wooden walls of shed, 12.vii.2022, 4 ♁♁ 3 ♀♀ ( MCH) ; ditto, J. Roháček lgt., 1 ♁♁ 2 ♀♀ ( SMOC) . Popice (7162), 48°49′17″N 16°0′37″E, 295 m, margin of sheep pasture, Populus , 29.vii.2022, 1 ♁ 1 ♀ ( MCH) ; 48°49′10.5″N 16°0′42″E, 305 m, Robinia and wooden pillar, 29.vii.2022, 1 ♁ 1 ♀ ( MCH) .

Distribution. Widespread Holarctic species, for details see Negrobov & Naglis (2016).

Status in CZ. Previously recorded from Královské Vinohrady, Houška, Stará Boleslav ( Vimmer 1913), Soběslav ( Máca 1977), and Valtice ( Olejníček & Barták 1997; Olejníček 1998). There are no specimens of M. diadema in the historical collection of NMPC (coll. Kowarz and Vimmer), and the record from Soběslav (3 ♀♀, J. Olejníček det.) could not be verified. However, the occurrence (both in Bohemia and Moravia) is reliably documented by the specimens listed above and the record from Valtice (NMPC, partly examined). The specimens from Raná and Valtice were originally erroneously identified and recorded as M. flavipes by Olejníček (1982).

Ecology. Medetera diadema is often encountered on human-made constructions (walls of garden houses, wooden constructions) and might be termed synanthropic. It has also been found abundantly on trunks of deciduous trees on farms in Belgium (M. Pollet, unpubl. data).

Figures

FIGURES 1–2. 1, Medetera flies in their typical pose on the vertical surface of a tree trunk (Czech Republic); 2, M. diadema (Linnaeus) with a bug of the genus Orthotylus Fieber (Miridae) as prey (England: Buckinghamshire, Hedgerley Green, 16.vii.2020); photos by Z. Kejval (Fig. 1) and by B. Webb (Fig. 2).