Pales exsulans Tiensuu, 1939

Cerretti, Pierfilippo, 2005, Revision of the West Palaearctic species of the genus Pales Robineau­Desvoidy (Diptera: Tachinidae), Zootaxa 885, pp. 1-36 : 16-17

Pales exsulans Tiensuu, 1939

Pales exsulans Tiensuu, 1939: 10 . Type locality: Madeira [ Portugal].

Material examined. PORTUGAL — Ilha Madeira, Rabacal, 20.VII.1997, J. T. Smit leg., 1 ɗ ( JTSC). Madeira, 54479, 1 ɗ ( ZMHB). Madeira, 52201, 1 ɗ ( ZMHB). Madeira, Monte, 11.VI.1998, J. T. Smit leg., 1 Ψ ( JTSC). Madeira, Ribeira Brava, Boa Morte, 3.III.1998, J. T. Smit leg., 1 ɗ ( SMNS).

Diagnosis and remarks. There were only a few specimens available to me for examination. For features such as the morphometric ratios, the shape of the cerci and the colour of the tibiae, P. exsulans falls well within the range of variability of P. pavida , the only noticeable difference being the ground colour of the thorax (except scutellum) and abdomen which are entirely black, without blue reflections. On the basis of these findings, it seems that no sound morphological evidence separating the two species exists so, accordingly, P. exsulans is probably synonymous with P. pavida . Nevertheless, because of the geographic isolation of P. exsulans and lack of information on its biology and reproductive isolation, it is more appropriate not to propose a formal synonymy of the two names at this time.

Distribution. Madeira ( Portugal) (cf. Herting 1984; Herting & Dely­Draskovits 1993).

Hosts. Unknown.