Metopina heselhausi Schmitz, 1914

Mostovski, Mike B., 2016, Metopina Macquart (Diptera: Phoridae) of Israel, with description of a new species, new records and an identification key, Zootaxa 4111 (1), pp. 61-68 : 62

Metopina heselhausi Schmitz, 1914

( Figs 2 , 7 )

Metopina heselhausi Schmitz, 1914: 91 ; Disney, 1979: 104; Withers, 1996: 321; Disney & Prescher, 2003: 245; Disney, 2006: 496; Disney et al., 2010: 199.

Material. Israel: 1♂ Almagor [32°55'N 35°36'E], 10–25.xii.2010, W. Kuslitzky, Malaise trap; 1♀ same data but 12–31.i.2011; 1♂ same data but 8–28.ii.2011; 2♂ same data but 7–30.iv.2011.

Distribution. The species has been found across Europe ( Disney, 1991; Weber & Schiegg, 2001) and in Israel ( Lengyel, 2011). It is also known from Yemen, Macaronesia and Benin ( Disney, 2006; Disney et al., 2010, 2013).

Biology. This species appears to be attracted to flowers of Taraxacum , Reseda and Potentilla , as well as to meat baits ( Withers, 1996; Disney et al., 2010). In Benin, the species was reared from Russulaceae fungi ( Disney et al., 2013).

Remarks. Females of M. heselhausi resemble those of M. oligoneura , the main difference between them being the size measured as the width of the abdominal tergite 4 (<0.2 mm in M. oligoneura vs> 0.3 mm in M. heselhausi ). However, following the discovery of intermediate specimens of M. heselhausi from the Canary Islands Disney & Prescher (2003, figs 1–2) suggested that the two species can be distinguished by the relative length of the anterolateral arms of the abdominal tergite 10, which are clearly shorter in M. heselhausi . Females from Almagor also has tergite 4 measured between 0.2–0.3 mm, but the length of tergite 10 apodemes allows its confident attribution to M. heselhausi .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. Abdominal tergites (T) of Metopina females showing anterior flap (AF) of T 5. 1, M. braueri, T 5; 2, M. heselhausi, T 5; 3, M. kuslitzkyi sp. n., T 4 – 5; 4, M. obsoleta, T 4 – 5; 5, M. pileata, T 5; 6, M. ulrichi, T 4 – 5. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 7 – 9. Sclerotization on the abdominal venter of Metopina males. 7, M. heselhausi; 8, M. obsoleta; 9, M. pileata. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.