Aricia rufipalpis, Macquart, 1851

Pont, Adrian C., 2012, Muscoidea (Fanniidae, Anthomyiidae, Muscidae) described by P. J. M. Macquart (Insecta, Diptera), Zoosystema 34 (1), pp. 39-111 : 85

rufipalpis Macquart, 1851 , Pyrellia

Pyrellia rufipalpis Macquart, 1851b: 225 ( 1851d: 252) . Lectotype ♀ (not ♂, as stated by Macquart), “ Brésil. Minas Geraes. M. Clausse. Muséum.” ( Brazil, Minas Gerais state), by present designation, in MNHN.

MATERIAL. — The single ♀ syntype is under no. 1853 of the Macquart collection in MNHN. It is in quite good condition: scutum rather crushed ; left hind leg missing, and right mid tarsomeres enveloped in glue. It has a green disc with the accession no. 9.43 ( Brazil, Minas Gerais, collector Claussen), and it is labelled by Macquart “ Pyrellia / rufipalpis. ♀ / Macq. n. sp.”. It has also been labelled “ochrifacies” by Albuquerque. I have labelled it and designate it herewith as lectotype .

CURRENT IDENTITY. — Pyrellia rufipalpis belongs to the genus Morellia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 . It was synonymized with Morellia ochricornis (Wiedemann, 1830) by Albuquerque (1956: 33), and I originally followed this synonymy ( Pont 1972: 9). Subsequent study of the lectotype, however, showed that Albuquerque’s manuscript identification as M. ochrifacies (Rondani, 1850) is in fact correct. Morellia rufipalpis (Macquart, 1851) (and M. ochrifacies ) is a junior synonym of Morellia violacea (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) ( Carvalho et al. 1993: 13; 2005: 21). It is a species with a posteroventral seta on mid tibia, prosternum setulose, postpronotal lobes dark, palpi and antennae orange, wings clear except across humeral cross-vein, presutural dorsocentrals absent, wing-membrane entirely covered with microtrichia, and calypters dark.