Musca (Byomya) biseta Hough, 1898

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, The Muscidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, descriptions of two new species, new records and updated list of species, Zootaxa 4869 (1), pp. 1-54 : 10

Musca (Byomya) biseta Hough, 1898 ( Fig. 3 )

Musca biseta Hough, 1898: 173 .

Specimens examined. 1m, 1f, Jazan, Abu Aresh, Al-Mahdag Village , 25.i–16.ii.2014, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 2f, Asir, Abha, Madenate Al-Ameer Sultan , 25.ii.–25.v.2002, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( NMWC; CERS) .

Distribution. Previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Pont (1991); Dawah & Abdullah (2009); El-Hawagry et al. (2017; 2018). It was described from Somalia. In the Middle East it has been recorded from Iran, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen ( Pont 1991; Deeming 2008; Dawah & Abdullah 2009; Moradil et al. 2013).

Biological remarks. The biology of this species is very similar to that of M. sorbens . Vlassor & Stackelberg, quoted in Hennig (1964) recorded large numbers of larvae from a dead tortoise ( Testudo horsfieldi Gray ) ( Dawah & Abdullah 2009). It is a persistent sweat-fly and eye-fly ( Skidmore 1985).

Figures

FIGURE. 2–5. Muscidae species habitus: 2) Morellia nilotica (Loew, 1856), Male; 3) Musca (Byomya) biseta Hough, 1898, Male; 4. Musca (Byomya) conducens Walker, 1859, Female; 5. Musca (Byomya) confiscata Speiser, 1924, Male.