Diptera.info

Posted by Carlo Monari on 02-02-2022 20:40

This is not exactly an identification query, but I don't know where it is best placed. Anyway, lately I have spent some time loading a database with the names on the labels of Bezzi's collection and associating to each of those names the one valid today, when possible. Between the names I was unable to identify in the literature there is this one:

Mallochiella rufitarsis Mgn

According to Systema Dipterorum, Meigen never described a rufitarsis species, so I can't understand what Bezzi had in mind when he wrote that label. Near the label there is a single specimen, rather worn, I submit its dorsal and lateral view. Pinned under the specimen there is another label with the name Madiza rufitarsis, but this too seems coming from nowhere. Another label pinned under the specimen says An Fenstern 9 84

Edited by Carlo Monari on 02-02-2022 20:44

Posted by Tony Irwin on 02-02-2022 22:15

Gymnopa rufitarsis described by Meigen in 1838 ( System . Beschr . VII . 384) now considered a synonym of Madiza glabra. Not sure why you drew a blank on Systema Dipterorum

Edited by Tony Irwin on 02-02-2022 22:21

Posted by Carlo Monari on 02-02-2022 23:11

Thanks Tony. Indeed I forgot to add 'Milichiidae'. None of the rufitarsis species described by Meigen are Milichiidae, and, according to Systema Dipterorum, the valid name for Gymnopa rufitarsis today is Parydra (Parydra) coarctata Fallén, Ephydridae, that's why I was unable to associate it with Mallochiella rufitarsis. On the Milichiidae site I see that a synonym of Madiza glabra is Madiza flavitarsis, and just this morning I was wondering if Bezzi simply wrote rufitarsis instead flavitarsis without checking.

Posted by Tony Irwin on 03-02-2022 12:39

The Systema Dipterorum suggestion that Gymnopa rufitarsis Meigen 1838 is a synonym of Parydra coarctata (Fallén) is an error. Mathis and Zatwarnicki (1995) list Ephydra rufitarsis Macquart 1835 as a synonym of P. coarctata, but make no mention of Gymnopa rufitarsis Meigen anywhere in their Catalog, or in later updates of the catalogue.
On the New Diptera Site, Gymnopa rufitarsis Meigen is given as a synonym of Madiza rufitarsis Mg., itself a synonym of Madiza glabra. (See https://portal.cy...3/synonymy )
Gymnopa is now regarded as a synonym of Mosillus, an ephydrid that superficially looks rather like Madiza, and would explain why Meigen thought his rufitarsis was a Gymnopa. I am quite certain that Bezzi was (correctly) thinking of Meigen’s rufitarsis when he labelled the specimen.