Anthomyia simensis ( Jaennicke, 1867 ) Ackland, 2001

Ackland, D. M., 2001, Revision of afrotropical Anthomyia Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), with descriptions of ten new species, African Invertebrates 42, pp. 1-94 : 12-16

Anthomyia simensis ( Jaennicke, 1867) , comb. n.

( Figs 1–11 )

Hylemyia simensis Jaennicke, 1867: 372 ; Stein, 1902: 137; Bezzi, 1908: 96; Speiser, 1910: 165; Stein,

1919: 151; Speiser, 1924: 103.

Hylemyia sinensis: Stein, 1913: 557 ; Stein, 1914: 134; Stein, 1918: 199. Error.

Hylemyia sinensi s var. intensa Malloch, 1924: 263 . Syn. n.

Hylemyia pullula intensa: Emden, 1941 b: 267 ; Emden, 1951: 364.

Hylemyia (Craspedochaeta) pullula intensa: Emden, 1956: 530 .

Holotype Ò of simensis : ETHIOPIA [Abyssinia]: (Rüppell). In FSF. Not examined by me; examined (with genitalia dissection) by Dr V. Michelsen (unpublished), who sent me drawings of the genitalia.

Holotype Ò of simensis intensa: KENYA: ‘Holotype’ [circular label with red perimeter]; ‘Brit. E. Africa / Kijabe Escarp. / 28.xii.1911 – 5.i.1912 / 7–8,000 ft / Dr W. J. Radford / bamboo forest’ [rectangular white card]; ‘ Hylemyia sinensis / var intensa / Type / det. J. R. Malloch’ [rectangular white card with black perimeter]. Revised during present study. The holotype is rather greasy, left hind tarsus missing, the abdomen has been re-attached with glue.

Other material examined: ETHIOPIA: 1Ò, Wagira, Gava mulata, no date, G. Kristensen, ex Wainwright coll. ( BMNH) . KENYA: 3Ò3^, Aberdare Range, Mt. Kinangop , 10000 ft, 26.x.1934, F. W. Edwards, B. M. E. Afr. Exp. ( BMNH) ; 2Ò2^, Aberdare Range, Nyeri Track , 10500–11000 ft, 28.x.1934, J. Ford, B. M. E. Afr. Exp. ( BMNH) ; 1Ò, same data, F.W. Edwards ( BMNH) ; 1Ò, Mt. Elgon , alpine zone, 12000–13000 ft, ii.1935, F. W. Edwards, B. M. E. Afr. Exp. ( BMNH) ; 1Ò2^, same data but heath zone, 10500– 11500 ft ( BMNH) ; 1^, Ngong , ix.1946, van Someren ( BMNH) ; 1Ò1^, Naivasha , vii.1937, H. J. A. Turner ( BMNH) ; 2Ò3^, Mt. Kenya, Timberless Gap , 9500 ft, 29.vii.1949, J. A. Riley ( BMNH) . SOUTH AFRICA: Gauteng: 1Ò, Johannesburg , 19.xii.1948, F. Zumpt ( BMNH) . TANZANIA: 2Ò, no further locality, 7500–11500 ft, B. Cooper ( BMNH) ; 1 Ò, E Meru, 7000–8000 ft, i.1938, B. Cooper ( BMNH) . UGANDA: 1Ò2^, Mt. Elgon, Mutangi , viii.1934, 11500 ft, J. Ford ( BMNH) ; 4Ò3^, Imatong Mts , ii.1936, 10000 ft, Dr R. Buxton ( BMNH) .

Male:

Colour: Interfrontalia, parafrontalia and genae varying from brown to blackish (with rather thin shifting silvery grey dusting); parafrontals opposite lunule with a very indistinct darker greyish shifting sheen stripe which extends from lunule to level of arista, and a greyish shifting spot in vibrissal angle which extends above genal groove to reach eye margin when viewed in profile; face and occiput blackish (with normal dusting). Antennae entirely dark brown to blackish. Palpi dark brown to black; arista brownish at base; prementum dark brown, thinly dusted. Thorax densely dusted light grey (over dark ground-colour) with 3 wide, dark brownish vittae, which become when viewed from in front lighter matt bronzy brown; median vitta either filling space between dorsocentral setae and continuing onto disc of scutellum, or sometimes only as wide as space between acrostichal setae; lateral vittae equally wide and extending from the post pronotal lobe to scutellum or even onto sides of scutellum. Pleura rather thinly greyish dusted, with browner shifting and slightly shining patches. Abdomen largely light grey dusted over dark ground-colour, with a wide (half width of abdomen) dark brown central vitta on all tergites, anterior and lateral margins of tergites narrowly darkened brownish. Pregenital sclerite contrastingly shining blackish; hypopygium and 5th sternite brownish, rather finely dusted. Wing ( Fig. 8 ) with membrane slightly brownish tinged basally; with conspicuous patches of brownish clouding around upper crossvein, and on either end of lower crossvein, the circular patch on junction of lower crossvein with M 1+2 large and extensive; also some indistinct clouding near base of wing on membrane between R 4+5 and M 1+2; squamae paler than wing base with whitish fringes; halteres yellow. Legs entirely dark brown to blackish.

Head: Parafrontalia linear posteriorly, touching just below ocellar tubercle, widening anteriorly to slightly less than width of first flagellomere; eyes practically touching on frons, separated by less than half width of anterior ocellus; genae below lowest point of eye margin 0.20–0.22 times eye-height. 4–5 pairs of parafrontal setae (interspersed with a few fine hairs) on anterior half of distance between antennal base and anterior ocellus; short interfrontal setulae present. First flagellomere slightly more than twice as long as wide (apex not quite reaching lower facial margin); arista short plumose, total width of hairing about two-thirds width of first flagellomere. Prementum about 0.35 times as long as head height.

Thorax: 3 pairs of moderately long presutural acrostichals (the middle the longest at about 0.5 times length of 2nd presutural dorsocentral seta) in rows separated by slightly less than distance from each to adjacent dorsocentral row, without additional setulae in between; acr / dc ratio 10:9:10; posthumerals 1 + 1; prealar about 0.7 times length of posterior notopleural; dorsal surface of scutellum bare centrally; propleural depression bare; katepisternals 2 + 2, lower posterior nearly as long as upper anterior seta; anepisternum with a developed upper anterior setula.

Legs: f2 with row of 6–7 pv, 1 shorter av; f3 with 8 av on whole length, (which are about twice as long as depth of femur), 2 pv; t1 with 1 pv; t2 with 1 ad, 1–2 pd and 2 p/ pv; t3 with 2 av, 4–5 ad, 2 pd and 3–4 pv.

Wing: costa with marginal spinules about 1.5 times as long as costal diameter, one of the two before distal break differentiated, 2.5 times longer than the other costal spinules; lower crossvein slightly sinuate, joining M 1+2 obliquely; last section of M 1+2 1.5 times length of preceding section. Lower squama smaller than upper.

Wing length up to 5.5 mm.

Abdomen: Slightly more than twice as long as wide (2.3), dorsoventrally flattened in basal two-thirds, more or less parallel-sided from 2nd to 4th tergite. 2nd, 3rd and 4th sternites about twice as long as wide; 5th sternite processes ( Fig. 3 ) in ventral view with a few short setae laterally at their bases, otherwise with long multiserial rows of setulae on their sinuate inner margins, and some long apical setae on their divergent apices. Central process of synsternite (6+7) ( Fig. 7 ) with large and divergent arms, with converging apices. Surstylus ( Fig. 2 ) strongly downcurved apically, appearing slender in lateral view, bearing 3–4 short spinules below the angle of its inner lobe. Cercal plate ( Fig. 1 ) twice as long as wide, gradually tapering to a narrow apex, with 4–5 pairs of pairs of subapical setulae, otherwise setulose only on basal half; in profile medially convex. Pregonite ( Fig. 5 ) longer than wide, with 2 straight setulae on distal margin; postgonite ( Fig. 5 ) with a short setula placed on an extended ventroapical corner. Distal section of aedeagus ( Fig. 6 ) with a submedian dorsal process well separated from its base, dorsal margin of distal section just distal to the dorsal process with a slight swelling, the apical third of distal section rather distinctly upturned with an apical acrophallus.

Female:

Colour: Head dark as in male. Thoracic pattern very similar to that of male, median vitta on scutum often not extended onto scutellum.Abdomen with median vitta tending to be broken into spots. Legs dark as in male.

Head: Eyes widely separated (slightly more than their transverse width, ratio 3:5:3); interfrontalia at level of middle ors about 2.5 times as wide as each parafrontal; parafrontalia widening anteriorly to about width of first flagellomere; genae below lowest point of eye margin about 0.36 times eye height. Arista with longer hairs than the male (total width of hairing nearly as long as width of first flagellomere. Parafrontal setae differentiated into 2 pairs of orbital setae and 2 pairs of smaller (inwardly directed) frontal setae; crossed interfrontal setae well developed.

Thorax: Presutural acrostichal setulae slightly finer and shorter than in male. Katepisternals 2 + 2 (lower posterior as long as upper, lower anterior short and fine).

Legs: t1 with 1 ad and 1 p; t2 with 1 ad, 2 pd and 2 p/pv; t3 with 2 av, 4 ad and 3 pd.

Wing length up to 5.0 mm.

Abdomen: Postabdomen ( Figs 9, 10 ) shorter than preabdomen (0.7–0.8 times). Tergites 6–8 more or less continuously sclerotised across the dorsum posteriorly (where they bear rows of setulae), divided anteriorly into pairs of dorsolateral strips; 8th tergite with a trace of a central strip. 6th and 7th spiracles posteriorly situated on 6th segment. 10th tergite longer than wide, bearing about 6 setulae posteriorly; cerci not very long, with several very long setulae apically. 2 spermathecae ( Fig. 11 ), ribbed, longer than wide (0.1 x 0.07 mm).

Discussion: Jaennicke named this species simensis , presumably after the district Simen in Ethiopia (simenensis would have been more appropriate).Stein (1902) wrote ‘ simensis ’ when he redescribed Jaennicke’s types. In 1913, 1914 and 1918 however, he wrote ‘ sinensis ’ without comment.In his world catalogue (Stein 1919) he reverted to ‘ simensis ’. As there is no evidence to show that he intended to emend the name, I consider it appropriate to treat the spelling ‘ sinensis ’ as an error, and as such it has no nomenclatural standing.The recently described Anthomyia sinensis Zhang & Sun, 1997 , is not therefore a homonym. Malloch described sinensis [sic] var. intensa in 1924, based on a single male from Kenya, which differed from specimens (1Ò4^) from Willow Grange, Natal, which he considered to be simensis Jaen. A. simensis var. intensa possessed a ‘larger cloud on both crossveins and a brown spot at base of discal cell on the fourth vein which crosses the cell in front of that vein’. Unfortunately there are two distinct species involved, and the true simensis is the same species as Malloch’s var. intensa , and the species which he identified as ‘ simensis’ from Willow Grange (in BMNH, genitalia examined) is undescribed. It is described in this paper as verecunda sp. n.

Emden in 1951 decided that the specimens from Natal, identified by Malloch as simensis , did not differ from British specimens of pullula , now known by the earlier name of liturata ( R. D.), and synonymised the two names. He therefore listed the true simensis as pullula intensa. This is incorrect.

Nearly all the material I have examined from northern and central Africa to as far south as Tanzania are simensis . Those from South Africa are verecunda . There is however a single male in BMNH (Gauteng, Johannesburg, F. Zumpt) which has the basal patch at the base of the wing and the genitalia of simensis , but its appearance is more like verecunda . Dr Zumpt was known to receive bred material from other parts of Africa (from bird nests etc.), and it is possible that this specimen may not have been collected in Johannesburg.

Dr V. Michelsen kindly sent me some drawings of the genitalia of the holotype of simensis ; they agree exactly with the figures of a specimen from Kenya figured in this paper. The longer cercal plate with a narrower apex, and the more strongly curved distal section of the aedeagus (bearing a small swelling dorsally just distal to the dorsal process) are characteristic of simensis , which is probably closely related to the Palaearctic species liturata . Both species have a similar bilobed central process on synsternite (6+7); simensis differs from liturata in having a basal wing patch and wider apical part to the distal section of the aedeagus, as well as more strongly infuscated crossveins.

Distribution: The range of simensis is from Ethiopia in the north to Tanzania in the south, with the one isolated record from Gauteng ( South Africa) mentioned above.

Figures

Figs 1–8. Anthomyia simensis (Jaennicke) (Kenya). 1–7. Ò terminalia. 1. Cercal plate and surstyli, caudal view. 2. Ditto, lateral view. 3. 5th sternite, ventral view. 4. Ditto, lateral view. 5. Gonites. 6. Distal section of aedeagus. 7. Central process of synsternite (6+7). 8. Wing.

Figs 9–11. Anthomyia simensis (Jaennicke) (Kenya). 9–10. ^ ovipositor, dorsal view. 11. spermatheca.