Calliphora rohdendorfi ( Grunin, 1966 )

Rognes, Knut, 2019, The Calliphoridae (Diptera) of Armenia, Zootaxa 4576 (2), pp. 375-391 : 377

Calliphora rohdendorfi ( Grunin, 1966)

Most recent taxonomic treatments. Grunin (1966: 898, as Abago rohdendorfi ), Grunin (1970b, as Abago rohdendorfi ), Schumann & Ozerov (1992), Rognes (1997), Szpila (2015).

Material. Kotayk: Tsakhkadzor, Mt Teghenis , wood & edge of wood, N40°32 E44° 41, 2270 m, 17.vii.2011, 1 ♀ [2526].

Previous Armenian records. “near Ankavan, July 7, 1969 ”, 1 ♂ (V. Richter) [= Hankavan in Kotayk province]; “Akhundov, Razdan district, Aug. 5, 1969 ”, 1 ♂ (V. Richter) [= Hrazdan in Kotayk province] ( Grunin 1970b).

Remarks. Abago rohdendorfi was described by Grunin (1966) from Krasnodarskiy Kray in Russia, at the “foothill of Mt. Abago ”, on the basis of “a single male in a poor state of preservation” ( Grunin 1970b). I have not been able to find Mt Abago on a map, but Abago is a locality in the modern Adygia Republic [Respublika Adygeya], which is surrounded in its entirety by Krasnodarskiy Kray. Grunin (1970b) added the following records from the Caucasus: (1) “ Krasnodar Territory, in the Kavkazskiy reservation in the Adygey Autonomous Region”; (2) “ Stavropol’ Territory, Karachayevo-Cherkes Autonomous Region, Teberda reservation”; and (3) “ Armenia ” (spelling of localities taken from the translation of the original Russian paper in Entomological Review, Washington). The two localities in Armenia are cited above. Schumann (1986) recorded the species from Armenia and Georgia, though I have not been able to find the source for the record from Georgia. Schumann & Ozerov (1992) collected several specimens in North Ossetia in Russia, and moved the species to the genus Calliphora Robineau-Desvoidy. The species was recently recorded in large numbers in Germany by Adaschkiewitz & Gossner (2014), and was subsequently found also in Poland ( Szpila 2015). Theo Zeegers collected it in Lagodekhi Nature Reserve, Kakheti province in eastern Georgia in 2012 (pers. comm., 1 duplicate male received). Calliphora rohdendorfi is very similar in external appearance to Calliphora subalpina ( Ringdahl, 1931) , but the terminalia in both sexes are very different. It has most likely been overlooked in the area between Germany and the Caucasus.

Distribution. Armenia, Georgia, Germany, Poland, Russia (Respublika Adygeya; Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika; Respublika Severnaya Osetiya-Alaniya).