Revision of the Palaearctic species of the Merodon desuturinus group (Diptera, Syrphidae)

Abstract

This revision of material belonging to the Merodon desuturinus group from the Palaearctic Region resulted in the delimitation of four species: Merodon cabanerensis Marcos-García, Vujić & Mengual, 2007; Merodon desuturinus Vujić, Šimić & Radenković, 1995; Merodon neolydicus Vujić, nom. n.; and Merodon murorum Fabricius, 1794. Merodon murorum is redescribed. A neotype for Merodon auripilus Meigen, 1830 is designated, which is a new junior synonym of Merodon murorum. The related Afrotropical species Merodon cuthbertsoni Curran, 1939 is re-evaluated and compared to its sibling Palaearctic taxon Merodon desuturinus. An identification key for the Merodon desuturinus group is provided.

Close relatives of Mediterranean endemo-relict hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae) in South Africa: Morphological and molecular evidence in the Merodon melanocerus subgroup

“…The M . desuturinus group is characterized by the following adult morphological characters: posterior surface of mesocoxa with pile; anterior lobe of surstyle of male genitalia with curved distal prolongation (as in Fig 2B : a); and the specific shape of the lateral sclerite of the aedeagus (which is the main synapomorphic character for the group) (as in Fig 3D : l) [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. This group contains a Palaearctic and an Afrotropical lineages.…”

“…stevensoni share a clear apomorphic character, i.e., a reduced oral margin covered by microtrichia ( Fig 4A and 4B ) and together represent a subgroup named M . planifacies [ 25 ]. Of the remaining species in the group, M .…”

“…cuthbertsoni is very close to M . desuturinus according to morphological characters, and treated together with Mediterranean representatives of the group [ 25 ]. Looking at distributions, members of the M .…”

“…Vujić, Šimić and Radenković [ 24 ] described the Balkan endemic Merodon desuturinus Vujić, Šimić et Radenković, 1995 from high mountains and, later, Marcos-García et al [ 14 ] discovered another related species, M . cabanerensis Marcos-García, Vujić et Mengual, 2007 from Spain that was also confirmed in Morocco [ 25 ]. Vujić et al [ 25 ] described one additional species M .…”

“…cabanerensis Marcos-García, Vujić et Mengual, 2007 from Spain that was also confirmed in Morocco [ 25 ]. Vujić et al [ 25 ] described one additional species M . neolydicus Vujić, 2018, distributed in the Eastern Mediterranean, and redescribed M .…”