Prosimulium, Roubaud, 1906

Crosskey, Roger W. & Crosskey, Margaret E., 2000, An investigation of the black ¯ y fauna of Andalusia, southern Spain (Diptera: Simuliidae), Journal of Natural History 34 (6), pp. 895-951 : 912-913

Subgenus PROSIMULIUM Roubaud Prosimulium (Prosimulium) aculeatum species-group

3. Prosimulium (Prosimulium) faurei Bernard, Grenier and Bailly-Choumara Spain references: GonzaÂlez PenÄa et al. (1986, as Prosimulium (Urosimulium) sp.), GonzaÂlez PenÄa (1990, as P. juncii , error for juccii ), GonzaÂlez (1997, as P. aculeatum -group sp.).

Andalusia records

Authors’ material. Site 83: 3 larvae. Site 87: 2 pupae, 28 larvae (19.iii.1996), 5 pupae (exuviae) (28.iv.1996), 1 larva (1.iii.1998). Site 88: 3 larvae (19.iii.1996), 1 larva (1.iii.1998).

Other specimens seen. We have collected the following material from just north of the Andalusian borderÐCiudad Real: 1 pupal exuviae, south slope of Puerto de Nieā, trickle by east side of N 420 road from Brazatortas and Fuencaliente, ca 800 m (UH8065), 6.iv.1994 (Crosskey); 1 pupa, 5 larvae, same locality data, 19.iii.1996 (Crosskey); 2 larvae, same trickle near its junction with RõÂo Montoro on west side of N 420 road, ca 700 m (UH8064), 19.iii.1996 (Crosskey). [These are the same sites as recorded later in this paper for Greniera fabri .]

Previous reports. CoÂrdoba / Ciudad Real (Andalusia border): Arroyo Los TeÂrminos , 570 m (UH84447 1) [1 larva 27.xii.1983, 1 pupa and 26 larvae, 28.i.1984]; RõÂo Yeguas , 550 m (UH849466) [5 larvae, 27.xii.1983, 1 larva, 28.i.1984]; CoÂrdoba: RõÂo Yeguas, 300 m (UH95336 2) [3 larvae, 27.xii.1983, 7 larvae, 28.i.1984] (refs GonzaÂlez PenÄa et al., 1986; GonzaÂlez PenÄa, 1990) .

Remarks

The material we record here belongs to the Prosimulium aculeatum group in which the aquatic stages are recognized by the more or less all-dark larval antennae and the 12-®lament pupal gill (in which three sets of four ®ne ®laments arise from three strong trunks). The group is restricted to southwestern Europe and North Africa and comprises three rare species inhabiting temporarily ¯owing watercourses. There are no satisfactory characters that diOEerentiate the immature stages of these species and regrettably no pharate or emerged adults have been found in Spain that could clinch the speci®c identi®cation. GonzaÂlez PenÄa (1990) had material of the same P. aculeatum -group species, also from the Sierra Morena , which she identi®ed as P. juccii (Contini) , a species only reliably known from its type locality in Sardinia; later (1997), she referred to it simply as an undetermined species of this group. GonzaÂlez PenÄa did not mention P. faurei , described by Bernard et al. (1972) from Morocco, but we consider on zoogeographica l grounds Ðgiven the close correspondence of the Moroccan and southern Spanish faunasÐthat Spanish populations of the group are much more likely to belong to P. faurei than to P. juccii and we are accordingly identifying our P. aculeatum -group material as faurei pending con®rmation from pharate adults when these can be are obtained; comparison of our pupae with pupae of P. faurei from its Moroccan type locality (kindly supplied from the Institut Pasteur, Paris, by Professor Rodhain) has shown them to be identical. It can be added that all the characters said by Bernard et al. (1972) to diOEerentiate their P. faurei from P. juccii are very intangible and there is some likelihood that the two nominal species are synonymous.

In Spain the species is apparently con®ned to the Sierra Morena , where it breeds in open rocky-bedded rõÂos and arroyos that ¯ow temporarily and typically dry up by March or April. Population densities and pupation times are clearly very dependent on winter temperatures and rainfall. Under favourable conditions pupation can occur as early as late January. Our attempts to obtain pharate adults have all failed, either because the habitats had completely dried or because emergence was over by the time we were able to return to the site. An example is provided by our ®ndings at the RõÂo Guadalbarbo (Site 87) in 1996, when larvae and young pupae were found on 19 March but only pupal exuviae could be found during a revisit on 28 April.