Medetera murina Becker, 1917

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 : 85

Medetera murina Becker, 1917

Distribution. France, Romania, Russia (northern Caucasus) and “ Yugoslavia ”.

Status in CZ. Previously recorded from both Bohemia and Moravia: Vlastiboř and Velechvín ( Máca 1977), Úvaly ( Olejníček & Barták 1997), Havraníky and Pod Větrníkem in Podyjí National Park ( Olejníček et al. 2005). There are only three specimens under this name in the collection of J. Olejníček in NMPC; i.e., one male from Havraníky (24.vii.–6.iii.2002, Meixnerová lgt.), one male from Bílina (8.v.–16.vi.2002, M. Barták lgt.), and one female from Úvaly near Prague (23.ix.1984, M. Barták lgt.). Both males proved misidentified and belong to M. truncorum Meigen, 1824 ; the female from Úvaly appears to be the latter species as well. The records by Máca (1977) from Velechvín and Vlastiboř in Bohemia are based on two female specimens, tentatively identified by Olejníček (“ Medetera ? murina ”), and deposited currently in BMS but not available for study. We consider these records erroneous, taking into account the misidentifications mentioned above and the overall southern distribution range of this species (see also Remarks). Consequently, M. murina is removed from the Czech checklist.

Remarks. Medetera murina is undoubtedly very close to M. truncorum , as suggested by the overall similarity of the male hypopygium in both species (see Negrobov & Stackelberg (1971 –1974) and Negrobov (1977), figs 693, 898). Surprisingly, this similarity was not utilized by Negrobov & Naglis (2016) as both species are treated in distant couplets in their identification key, based on rather weak differences in the development of dorsocentral setae (dc): four pairs of dc of almost equal length ( M. murina ) versus four pairs of dc, with second pair distinctly smaller than other pairs ( M. truncorum ).