Aphaniosoma creperum Collin, 1949

Ebejer, Martin J., 2023, The genus Aphaniosoma Becker, 1903 (Diptera: Chyromyidae) in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, with descriptions of new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 872, pp. 1-161 : 37-41

Aphaniosoma creperum Collin, 1949

Figs 15–16

Material examined

Lectotype (here designated)

EGYPT • ♂; Siwa Oasis ; 24 Apr. 1935; J. Omer-Cooper leg., Armstrong College Expedition; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435827 .

Paralectotypes

EGYPT • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for lectotype; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435829–31 • 2 ♂♂, parts of abdomens and hypopygia only, in Euparal; same collection data as for lectotype; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435828 • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for lectotype; 18–19 Apr. 1935; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 01343582–33 • 1 ♀; same collection data as for lectotype; 29 Apr. 1935; evening sweeping; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435837 • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for lectotype; 3–5 May 1935; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435834–36 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for lectotype; Zegawa ; 5 May 1935; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435838 • 4 ♂♂; same collection data as for lectotype; Zegawa ; 8 May 1935; Plant No. 9 Tabsanit; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435839–42 • 1 ♀; same collection data as for lectotype; 21–22 May 1935; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435843 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for lectotype; 31 May–1 Jun. 1935; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435844 • 1 ♀; same collection data as for lectotype; 3 Jun. 1935; NHMUK, B.M. 1935–354 , bar code 013435845 • 1 ♀; Fayoum , Lake Karun; 2–23 Sep. 1945; R.L. Coe leg.; NHMUK, B.M. 1946–39 , bar code 014594087 .

Other material

EGYPT • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Cairo, El-Marg ; 30.16° N, 31.23° E; 21 Mar. 1996; M. Barták leg.; margin of field; CULSP • 1 ♀; Cairo, El-Marg ; same collection data as for preceding; 22 Mar. 1996; orange orchard; CULSP • 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding; MJE ; • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; Cairo, Golo Island, along Nile river ; 29.58° N, 31.15° E; 21 Mar. 1996; M. Barták leg.; CULSP • 2 ♂♂; same collection data as for preceding; MJE • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Tanta , 12 km SE; 30.41° N, 31.02° E; 27–28 Mar. 1996; M. Barták leg.; orchard; CULSP • 1 ♂; Cairo, 20 km S; 29.52° N, 31.15° E; 31 Mar. 1996; M. Barták leg.; riverbank; CULSP • 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding; semi desert; CULSP • 1 ♂, 6 ♀♀, preserved in alcohol; Alexandria, Lake Etku ; 20 Oct. 2003; P. Gatt; leg.; MJE • 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; Alexandria, Abu Kir ; 20 Oct. 2003; P. Gatt leg.; beach, wrack; PG • 1 ♀; Alexandria, Lake Etku ; 20 Oct. 2003; P. Gatt leg.; PG .

ISRAEL • 1 ♂; Iddan spring ; 19 Mar. 1995; B. Merz leg.; MHNG • 6 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀; same collection data as for preceding; A. Freidberg leg.; SMNHTAU .

JORDAN • 1 ♂, preserved in alcohol; Azraq , Wildlife Resort; 31°49ʹ97ʹʹ N, 36°49ʹ27ʹʹ E; 20 Oct. 2011; J.-H. Stuke leg.; 1584; J-HS .

Remarks

Aphaniosoma creperum belongs to a difficult and complex group of species several of which have sympatric distributions. Collin (1949) described A. creperum from several male specimens, but he did not designate a holotype or place identification labels on any of the specimens. The two specimens that he dissected ( Fig. 15B–C ) and upon which he may have based his very limited illustration are mounted separately in Euparal on plastic and together on the same pin with one data label (dated: “ 24 iv 1935 ”). However, these are not associated with the remainder of their individual specimen parts, which were probably badly destroyed when the abdomen was removed for maceration and dissection. He illustrated only the basiphallus /epiphallus and the distiphallus possibly of one of these ( Collin 1949: 135). Later, the present author ( Ebejer 1998: 205, figs 21–22) illustrated the hypopygium of the other specimen along with a new drawing of the aedeagus from a slightly altered angle to that of Collin’s figure. Pont (1995: 54) listed 10 males and 10 females but conceded that he found it difficult to recognize the sexes owing to the very poor condition of most of the specimens. Eleven males and 9 females are listed in the Material examined section above. From the available material it is not possible to be certain that one species is involved and for this reason a lectotype is here designated. A specimen, rather badly glued to a plastic point, fits Collin’s description, including that of the male hypopygium, where most of the characteristic structures can be clearly seen. This specimen ( Fig. 15A ) is here designated as lectotype. Only those specimens with visible male terminalia that fit those of the lectotype, and females associated with them are designated as paralectotypes, leaving 1 male, 6 females and an indeterminate specimen all in very poor condition as ‘probable paralectotypes’.

The female from Lake Karoun, which Collin (1949) stated as belonging to this species, bears a red circled ‘Type’ label. However, it was collected 10 years later at Lake Karoun, which is at least 445 km east of Siwa, and it belongs to a group of species where this sex is identical in all of them. There is no male from that site with which it could be associated, and so it may not belong to A. creperum . Furthermore, Collin did not describe any features of this specimen and he did not provide it with an identification label. It is left as ‘paralectotype’.

Aphaniosoma creperum is typically a dark greyish brown to black species. The females of three closely related species: A. nigricauda Ebejer, 1998 , A. nigrum Ebejer, 1998 , and A. spiniventre Ebejer, 1998 usually have a dark brown basal flagellomere, as does the female of A. creperum , and they can only be identified by association with males. Males can be identified by examination of the hypopygium, where the shape of the pregenital sternites, the postgonite and the apex of the bilobed distiphallus are the simplest characters that help to differentiate A. creperum from closely related species, the most difficult of which to tell apart is A. nigricauda . The latter does not have the ventral extension to tergite 6; sternites 5 and 6, although similar, are not identical, and the distiphallus is with rather longer and clearly more pointed lobes. These differences may represent geographical variation of one species, but so far the indication is that A. nigricauda is a species in North Africa extending westwards from Tunisia and A. creperum a North African species extending eastwards from Egypt to Israel, Jordan and Oman.

Distribution

Egypt, Oman ( Becker 1903; Ebejer 1996). New records for Israel and Jordan.

Figures

Fig. 15. Aphaniosoma creperum Collin, 1949. A. ♂, lectotype (NHMUK B.M. 1935–354, bar code 013435827), habitus, lateral view. B ♂, paralectotype 1 (NHMUK), hypopygium in Euparal, lateral view. C. ♂, paralectotype 2 (NHMUK), hypopygium in Euparal, lateral view.

Fig. 16. Aphaniosoma creperum Collin, 1949. A–B. ♂, specimen from Cairo, Egypt (MJE). A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Hypopygium in situ, lateral view. C. ♂, specimen from Israel, pregenital sternites, ventral view. Abbreviations: See Material and methods.