Exoprosopa heros (Wiedemann, 1819)

Greathead, David J. & Evenhuis, Neal L., 2004, New species of Bombylioidea in Mario Bezzi’s Unpublished Hungarian Museum Manuscript, Zootaxa 773, pp. 1-56 : 33

Exoprosopa heros (Wiedemann, 1819)

83. Exoprosopa (Exoprosopa) loewiana 1ɗ South Africa (Eastern Cape): Willowmore (H. Brauns). MS page [84].

Bezzi, 1921a: 156 – key and referral to a female specimen in Loew (1860: 234) in ZMHB.

Hesse, 1956: 822 – synonymised with heros .

Evenhuis & Greathead, 1999: 362 – listed an undetermined number of syntypes in ZMHB.

Types: The syntype in HNHM was destroyed in 1956. Bezzi’s (1921a) mention of a specimen referred to in Loew (1860) relates to a female from “Cap” collected by Tollin that is in ZMHB. It is described on p. 234 of Loew (1860) and the wing is illustrated on pl. 2, fig. 13. This appears to be the only known syntype. Brauns’s collection, now in NMSA, has 46 specimens of E. heros collected by Dr Brauns at Willowmore and localities in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga and North West Provinces. Two specimens are probably duplicate specimens of material sent to Bezzi: 1Ψ, Willowmore, 15.xi.1919 with orange “31 Bezzi” label; 1Ψ, Piet Retief, iii.1918 with orange “37 Bezzi” label. There is no indication that either of these were originally determined as E. loewiana .

Remarks: Hesse (1956) showed that E. loewiana falls within the range of variation of this common and variable southern African species.