Merodon nigritarsis Rondani, 1845

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 256-257

Merodon nigritarsis Rondani, 1845

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: 1845f: 258 (key), 264 (description).

TYPE LOCALITY: “ nelle colline del parmigiano [ Parmese hills ( Italy)]” .

TYPE MATERIAL: 4 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ (only two of them are syntypes but they are not labeled as such) with the following labels: 1 ♂ (dirty, missing left mid-leg, terminalia in a microvial pinned below specimen) ( MZUF: Box 2), Merodon Fb. Latr. / nigritarsis Rnd. , ♂ / 68 / ♂ / Merodon nigritarsis Rond. , det. Hurkmans, 1987; 1 ♂ ( MZUF: Box 2), Merodon Fb. Latr. / nigritarsis Rnd. / 68 / ♂ / Merodon nigritarsis Rnd. , det. Hurkmans, 1987; 1 ♂ (missing left mid-leg) ( MZUF: Box 2), Merodon Fb. Latr. / nigritarsis Rnd. / 68 / Giug. [June] / ♂ / Merodon nigritarsis Rnd. , det. Hurkmans, 1987; 2 ♀♀ (one covered with mold, abdomen partially eaten by dermestids) ( MZUF: Box 2), Merodon Fb. Latr. / nigritarsis Rnd. / 68 / Merodon nigritarsis Rnd. , det. Hurkmans, 1987; 1 ♀ ( MZUF: Box A), Merodon nigritarsis R., 29, ♀, Parma / 393 29; 1 ♂ ( MSNC: Box DIPTERA Ex collezione Rondani - I), Merodon nigritarsis Rndn. ♂ Parma / Coll. Rondani, scatola n° 3, posiz. D-6 / Museo di Storia Naturale Università di Pisa, Calci ( PI) ex collezione Rondani.

CURRENT STATUS: subspecies of Merodon spinipes ( Fabricius, 1794) ( Peck 1988: 174) ; valid species (Hurkmans 1991: 190, Belcari et al. 1995a: 16).

REMARKS: Rondani (1845f: 264) described Merodon nigritarsis from two specimens without specifying their sex: “ ho trovati due soli individui [I found only two specimens]”. Hurkmans (1993: 190) incorrectly designated a specimen from “ Torino [Turin]” as the lectotype (♂) and a female from “ Susa ” [= Susa Valley (Piedmont)] as one of the seven paralectotypes (3 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀) because these are not type localities. There are three males and three females in the MZUF and one male in the MSNC: these specimens did not have any label indicating their type status. We are unable to single out the two specimens upon which Rondani based his description. We leave the recognition of the two syntypes to a future specialist.