Aleximyia albifrons Chao & Zhang, 1988a : 276

Zhang, Dong, Zhang, Ming, Li, Zijuan & Pape, Thomas, 2015, The Sarcophagidae (Insecta: Diptera) described by Chien-ming Chao and Xue-zhong Zhang, Zootaxa 3946 (4), pp. 451-509 : 453-456

Aleximyia albifrons Chao & Zhang, 1988a: 276 . China, Xinjiang, Baicheng, Akeqisu.

Originally included specimens: Described from seventeen males and five females.

Name-bearing type: Holotype ♂: Xinjiang, Baicheng/ Akeqisu/ Chinese Academy of Sciences [white label in Chinese, in black print]// 2400M./ 1978. V.23 / Collected by X.Z. Zhang [“2400M./ 1978. V.23 ” handwritten in black ink, remaining in black print, in Chinese]// HOLOTYPE [red label, in black print]// IOZ(E)216042 [blue label, in black print]// ♂ [white label, in black print]// Aleximyia / albifrons / Zhao & Zhang [white label, in black print]// Aleximyia / albifronta Chao et Zhang/ Identified by C.M. Chao [“Identified by C.M. Chao” in black print, in Chinese, remaining handwritten in blue-black ink].

Holotype in fair condition, with median part of right wing broken and tergites 1+2 with a crack, with terminalia extracted and fully visible.

Current identity: Miltogramma albifrons (Chao & Zhang, 1988) , as correctly listed by Pape (1996) and as treated by Xue & Chao (1998, as Aleximyia albifrons ). Pape (1996) synonymised Aleximyia Rohdendorf, 1930 under Miltogramma Meigen, 1830 thereby effectively giving M. albifrons (Chao & Zhang, 1988) as a new combination.

Additional type specimens: Allotype ♀: Xinjiang, Baicheng, Taliekekuotan, alt. 2300m, 8.VI.1978, Coll. by X.Z. Zhang. Paratypes 16♂♂, 4♀♀: Xinjiang, Baicheng, alt. 2300–2400m, 17.V–8.VI.1978, Coll. by X.Z. Zhang. All specimens in NZMC.

Remarks: This species is similar to M. kizylkumi (Rohdendorf) , but recognized by the blackish first antennal flagellomere (red in M. kizylkumi ) ( Fig. 1 C, D). We have not had access to specimens for comparisons, and the taxonomic decision is based on comparisons with the description of M. kizylkumi given by Rohdendorf (1930). There is no modern taxonomic revision of Miltogramma , which in the broad sense of Pape (1996) contains more than one hundred species with the center of diversity in the dry, warm-temperate parts of Asia from the Caspian Sea to northern China and Mongolia.

Redescription of Male: Body length 6.0– 8.5 mm ( Fig. 1 A). Eye bare, deep red. Fronto-orbital plate, parafacial and postocular strip black with light silvery gray pollinosity; parafacial with several fine black bristles ( Fig. 1 D, E). Frontal vitta yellowish brown with silvery pollinosity and several fine black bristles in upper half, 2.5× as broad as fronto-orbital plate in the median part; frons at vertex about 0.45× head width ( Fig. 1 C); frontal row of 10–12 bristles; outer vertical bristle differentiated from postocular bristles, one upper orbital and three or four proclinate orbital bristles. Ocellar bristles directed laterally. Gena ground color black, with black bristles and silvery gray pollinosity, height 0.20–0.25× eye height in lateral view ( Fig. 1 E). First antennal flagellomere blackish, not reaching the level of vibrissal insertion, 2.00–2.50× as long as pedicel ( Fig. 1 C); arista bare, swollen in basal 4/5 ( Fig. 1 E); two developed vibrissae ( Fig. 1 C). Palpus yellow, slightly expanded in distal part ( Fig. 1 C, D, E).

Thorax ground color black with light silvery gray pollinosity. Chaetotaxy: acrostichals 1+1, dorsocentrals 2+3, intra-alars 0, supra-alars 1, postalars 1, postpronotals 3, notopleurals 2, scutellum with 1 apical, 1 subapical, 1 basal and 1 discal bristles. Pleuron with meropleurals 9 or 10, katepisternal bristles 1: 1, prosternum, metasternum and proepisternum all bare, postalar wall with fine black bristles.

Wing hyaline; subcostal sclerite and basicosta yellow, bare; tegula yellowish brown; costal spine differentiated ( Fig. 1 A); vein R1 bare, two or three ventral bristles at node of R2+3–R4+5.

Legs yellowish black; fore femur with dense and long bristles along posterodorsal, ventral and posteroventral margins, fore tibia with one apical dorsal bristle, fore tarsomeres 2–4 with slender posterior bristles ( Fig. 1 G); mid femur with one apical posterior and one apical posterodorsal bristles, and with long and dense bristles along anteroventral, ventral and posteroventral margins, mid tibia with one row of anterodorsal strong bristles (about 4) and one row of posterodorsal bristles (about 4), and with one ventral and one median posterior bristles; hind femur with dense and long bristles along anterodorsal, anterior and ventral margins, hind tibia with one row of strong anterodorsal bristles (about 14), one row of slender anteroventral bristles (about 8) and one row of posterodorsal bristles (about 5).

Abdomen long oval; tergite 3 with one pair of median marginal bristles, tergite 4 with complete row of marginal bristles, tergite 5 with fine marginal bristles, epandrium black ( Fig. 1 B, F). Terminalia see Fig. 1 B.

Redescription of Female: Body length about 6.5 mm ( Fig. 2 A). Fronto-orbital plate, parafacial and postocular strip with light golden yellow pollinosity; parafacial bristles less than the males ( Fig. 2 B, C, D). Thorax chaetotaxy: acrostichals 3+1, postpronotals 2. Postalar wall bare. Fore tarsi without special structure, mid femur with less bristles than the male; hind tibia with one row of anteroventral bristles (about 5) and three posterodorsal bristles. Abdominal tergite 5 with complete row of marginal bristles ( Fig. 2 E). Other morphological characteristics are similar to those of the male.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aleximyia albifrons Chao & Zhang, 1988 [= Miltogramma albifrons (Chao & Zhang, 1988)], male, holotype. A. Body, lateral view. B. Terminalia, lateral view. C. Head, anterior view. D. Head, anterolateral view. E. Head, lateral view. F. Abdomen, dorsal view. G. Right fore tarsus, posteroventral view. H. Labels. Scales: A = 2.00 mm, B = 0.50 mm, C – G = 1.00 mm.

FIGURE 2. Aleximyia albifrons Chao & Zhang, 1988 [= Miltogramma albifrons (Chao & Zhang, 1988)], female, paratype. A. Body, lateral view. B. Head, lateral view. C. Head, anterior view. D. Head, anterolateral view. E. Abdomen, dorsal view. F. Labels. Scales: A = 2.00 mm, B – E = 1.00 mm.