Simulium (Obuchovia) transcaspicum Enderlein, 1921

Crosskey, R. W., 2002, A taxonomic account of the black y fauna of Iraq and Iran, including keys for species identi cation (Diptera: Simuliidae), Journal of Natural History 36 (15), pp. 1841-1886 : 1868

9. Simulium (Obuchovia) transcaspicum Enderlein

Iran references. Crosskey (1967, identi ed from Iran), Crosskey (1988, world checklist entry), Crosskey and Howard (1997, world inventory entry).

Iraq references. None.

Material seen

Iran: 1, Elburz [Mountains, position unknown], 4 May 1951 (Giaquinto). 6, 2, Chalous (5Chalus), Caspian Sea coast (36ss40¾/51ss25¾), May 1951 (Giaquinto) .

Remarks

Little is known of this species. Enderlein (1921) based it on one female collected on 28 April 1906 by C. Ahnger in ‘Transcaspien (Aschabad)’, i.e. Ashkhabad in Turkmenistan. Ahnger’s collections went to Helsinki and St Petersburg as well as Ashkhabad, but the specimen has not been found in any of these places or in Berlin, where Enderlein’s collections are deposited ( Crosskey, 1967); the specimen (holotype) is considered lost. Nevertheless it seems certain that S. (O.) transcaspicum is correctly identi ed from northern Iran in view of the close t of the females with the original description and with the later description of Rubtsov (1956) based (apparently) on females he identi ed as transcaspicum from Azerbaijan. The adult male was described by Crosskey (1967) from the Iranian specimens (listed above). According to Kazanci and Clergue-Gazeau (1990) the species occurs in Asiatic Turkey.

No immature of S. transcaspicum are yet known from Iran but when found they are likely to conform in pupal gill con guration and larval head parts with those illustrated by Rubtsov (1956: 593, gure 281); drawings given here to aid future recognition of the aquatic stages (see gure 18 of the postgenal cleft and gure 49 of the pupal gill) are based on Rubtsov. (His material was from the Kopet-Dag Mountains lying close along the Turkmenistan – Iran border near Ashkhabad.)

Adult females in species of the subgenus of Obuchovia are unusual among black y females in having a pattern of dark brown or black marks on a pale yellow ground colour variably developed on the abdominal segments. Patterning of this kind is seen in the Iranian specimens of S. transcaspicum (gures 101, 102).