The interpretation of some Conopidae (Diptera) described by Robineau-Desvoidy

Abstract

Conopidae material determined by Robineau-Desvoidy and held in the Hope Department of the University Museum, Oxford (UMO) has been examined. As a result, lectotypes for 13 of the species described by Robineau-Desvoidy can be designated, and the following new synonymies are proposed [syn. nov.]: Myopa nana Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 = Myopa occulta Wiedemann in Meigen, 1824; Myopa pellucida Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 = Myopa fulvipalpis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1853 = Myopa extricata Collin, 1960; Myopella florea Robineau-Desvoidy, 1853 = Myopa buccata (Linnaeus, 1758); Occemya nitidula Robineau-Desvoidy, 1853 = Zodion carceli RobineauDesvoidy, 1853 = Zodion cinereum (Fabricius, 1794); Purpurella nobilis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1853 = Myopa dorsalis Fabricius, 1794. Type species are fixed for the 11 conopid genera described by Robineau-Desvoidy in accordance with Article 70.3.1 of the ICZN. It is proposed to interpret Zodion kroeberi Szilády, 1926 as a valid species [stat. rev.] and to introduce this as the valid name for Zodion carceli auct.

Observations on Hilltopping in Thick-Headed Flies (Diptera: Conopidae)

“…Fifteen species of Conopidae were collected on the summit and/or the slopes of Colle Vescovo ( Table 1 ), but only four of these were clearly hilltoppers as they were recorded regularly at the summit over the course of the study: Dalmannia aculeata L., Myopa pellucida RobineauDesvoidy (= M. extricata, see Stuke and Clements 2005 ), Myopa picta (Panzer), and Zodion cinereum F. (= Z. notatum , see Mei and Stuke 2008 ). Four species were represented by isolated specimens on the summit, and the remaining seven species were not collected on the hilltop ( Table 1 ).…”

The first <i>Stylogaster</i> Macquart, 1835 (Diptera: Conopidae) fossil, from Oligo-Miocene Dominican amber, and some phylogenetic and biogeographic considerations

“…Comments: The other two known fossils of Conopidae have been discussed by Hennig (1966), Camras (1994), Stuke (2005) and Gibson and Skevington (2013); both are from Baltic amber. They are not associated directly with extant taxa, but resemble the non-stylogastrine conopids in having mobile female terminalia, pad-like appendices on the sternites and no facial carina protruding.…”

“…The adults are nectarivorous and the larvae are obligatory parasitoids of other insects. About 800 extant species of conopids in 58 genera are known, and one fossil genus with two species has been recorded from Baltic amber (Stuke, 2005;Gibson and Skevington, 2013).…”

Thecophora pusilla auct. - ein Artenkomplex (Diptera: Conopidae).

“…Die Nomenklatur innerhalb der Gattung Thecophora ist für die europäischen Arten unbefriedigend geklärt. 28 nominelle europäische Arten sind bekannt (CHVÁLA & SMITH 1988, STUKE & CLEMENTS 2005, die zu acht validen Arten gehören. Von den 20 aus Europa beschriebenen Synonymen wird Thecophora sundewalli (ZETTERSTEDT, 1844) Thecophora fulvipes (ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY, 1830) zugeordnet, alle anderen Arten werden als Synonyme zu Thecophora atra (FABRICIUS, 1775) gestellt.…”

“…Sie muss aus heutiger Sicht als pragmatische Lösung verstanden werden, da die Originalbeschreibungen in der Regel keine Zuordnung zu den sehr ähnlichen Arten zulassen und das Typenmaterial der Autoren PREYSSLER, MEIGEN, FABRICIUS und ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY in der Regel zerstört oder verschollen ist. Nur drei von ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY beschriebene Arten konnten kürzlich von STUKE & CLEMENTS (2005) untersucht werden: Thecophora femoralis (ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY, 1853) und Thecophora meigeni (ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY, 1853) sind tatsächlich Synonyme von Thecophora atra; Thecophora nitidula (ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY, 1853) ist ein Synonym von Zodion cinereum (FABRICIUS, 1794). Es ist allerdings unwahrscheinlich, dass ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY (1830, 1853, der 11 Synonyme von Thecophora atra beschrieben haben soll, keine der anderen in der Umgebung Paris nicht selten vorkommenden Thecophora-Arten vorliegen hatte.…”