Posted by John Bratton on 23-02-2010 16:39
#1
Collin's 1943 key says you can separate females of these species by the position of the front orbital bristles:
A line connecting front orbitals nearer to the front of the frons than to the front ocellus - rotundicornis Zett.
A line connecting front orbitals not nearer to the front of the frons than to the front ocellus - commixta Collin
Does this work, please? As the front of the frons is concave, did he mean the front in the mid-line or at the sides? In commixta, is the front orbital equidistant between frons and front ocellus, or nearer the ocellus?
Is there any other way of separating them? I find females more often than males.
Thanks in anticipation,
John Bratton
Posted by rvanderweele on 28-09-2010 22:08
#2
Interesting question from almost a year ago. According to Laszlo Papp the status of commixta is uncertain. He mentions that possibly commixta is a jun. syn. of rotundicornis. Does anybody knows what we know about this situation now?
Posted by John Bratton on 05-10-2011 11:56
#3
I've even more belatedly just seen your reply. Thanks for this. As you say, it would be good to know the current situation. Is commixta Collin recorded outside of Britain?