Simulium (Montisimulium) assadovi (Djafarov)

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 : 1865-1866

6. Simulium (Montisimulium) assadovi (Djafarov)

Iran references. Crosskey and Howard (1997, world inventory entry).

Iraq references. None.

Material seen

Iran: 9 larvae (one with pharate pupal gill, examined), Elburz Mountains, stream on Towchal Mountain , 23 km N of Tehran, 2500 m (35ss50/51ss25¾), 26 August 1978 (Kurtak and Kurtak) .

Remarks

The little-studied subgenus Montisimulium is characteristic of the high mountain fauna of Simuliidae from the Transcaucasus through Central Asia to the Himalayas and Tibet. A small group within the 50 or so named species, called by Rubtsov (1956) the Eusimulium alpinum group, has a distinctive larva in which the postgenal cleft is virtually absent, and it is to this element within Montisimulium that the larvae here reported from Iran belong. When rst seen (1978) I attributed them to the Armenian species S. (M.) litshkense (Rubtsov) and so gave ‘Iran’ as part of litshkense distribution in my world checklist ( Crosskey, 1988). Re-examination suggests that the larvae belong to S. (M.) assadovi , a close relative of litshkense described from Azerbaijan by Djafarov (1956). The median and corner teeth of the hypostomium are very prominent and the intermediate teeth (though small) distinctly visible (gure 23)— exactly as drawn by Djafarov—whereas in the litshkense larva all apical teeth of the hypostomium are very short and inconspicuous, the intermediate teeth not projecting beyond the terminal ange plates (see Terteryan, 1968: 129). In both species the pupal gill consists of 14 laments on a long stem and this character has been con rmed for the Iranian larvae by examination of a pharate pupal gill. In both assadovi and litshkense the larval postgenal cleft is just a tiny subtriangular notch, as shown here for an Iranian larva of assadovi in gure 13. Also alike are the positive spots of the head plate, all groups well developed and the posteromedian head-spot mark widened posteriorly, gures in Djafarov (1956) and Terteryan (1968).

Djafarov (1956) referred to the ‘ Type’ (life stage not given) being deposited in the Zoological Institute, Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences (Baku). There is no material of the species in ZISP and I have obtained no information on whether any exists in Baku .