Atherigona (Atherigona) tomentigera Emden, 1940

Deeming, John C. & Kirk-Spriggs, Ashley H., 2024, A contribution to the knowledge of Namibian Atherigona Rondani (Diptera: Muscidae), with the descriptions of four new species and two new subspecies, Zootaxa 5536 (4), pp. 501-535 : 526-527

Atherigona (Atherigona) tomentigera Emden, 1940

Atherigona tomentigera Emden, 1940: 121 , figs 21, 37; Deeming 1971: 158, figs 56–60; Deeming & Overman 1987: 118; Dike 2003: 221 (distribution); Muller & Mostovski 2018: 352, fig. 26.

Material examined: 1♂, Katima Mulilo District, Salambala , 4 km NE of, 17°49'21''S, 24°36'07''E, 25.ii–01.iii.2001, A .H. Kirk-Spriggs & E. Marais, Malaise trap; 1♂, Khorixas District, Amkarub 269, river on at: 19°50'12''S, 14°42'16''E, 24–26.v.2001, A .H. Kirk-Spriggs & E. Marais, Malaise trap; 1♂, Rundu District, Simanya : Okavango River, 17°33'17''S, 18°32'30''E, 23–24.i.1998, [ A.H.] Kirk-Spriggs & [E.] Marais, Malaise trap, primary woodland ; 1♀, Skeleton Coast, Park , Kunene River island, 17°15.97'S, 11°46.83'E, 19.iii.1998, A . H. Kirk-Spriggs , sweeping low vegetation & Phragmites reeds (all NMNW) .

Remarks. Identifications of lone females of this genus can be problematic and also sometimes uncertain. The female specimen cited above from Kunene River island, however, matches the female description provided by Deeming (1971: 158), with the highly distinctive female tergite 8 being exactly as figured (ibid., fig. 58). In the same work the puparium was described and the distinctive larval mouthhooks figured (ibid., fig. 60).

Distribution: (Afrotropical): Burkina Faso, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mali, Namibia *, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia *. 1♂, “ Zambia, 5 kms S. of Choma, 16°49'S, 26°33'E, 15.iii.1993, E. Marais”, deposited in NMNW represents a new country record.

Host-plant: Sorghum , Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. ( Poaceae ).