Coremacera Rondani, 1856

Vala, Jean-Claude & Williams, Christopher D., 2015, Sciomyzidae Fallén, 1820 (Diptera) collected in the Mercantour National Park, France, Zoosystema 37 (4), pp. 611-619 : 615

Genus Coremacera Rondani, 1856

Coremacera marginata ( Fabricius, 1775) ( Fig. 3 )

Musca marginata Fabricius, 1775: 784 .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 6 ♂, 2 ♀, M09-SES1400-T1-M1; 1 ♂, M09-SES1400-T1-M2; 4 ♂, 2 ♀, M09-SES1400-T4-M2; 9 ♂, 6 ♀, M09-SES-1400-T6-M2; 1 ♂, 2 ♀, M09-SES1400-T7-M2; 2 ♀, M09-SES1400-T8-M2.

DISTRIBUTION. — Eurasian, from Scandinavia to Spain, Greece and Turkey, extending to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran.

COMMENTS

Coremacera marginata is frequently collected in various terrestrial, shaded habitats: sub-xeric grasslands, even under direct sunlight; Quercus forest or Pine edge; garrigue; Mediterranean shrub formations, including city gardens and boundaries of meadows; and other humid areas.

Females oviposit at the end of September, mainly near terrestrial molluscs that are attacked and eaten by the larvae. These are especially Cochlicopa lubricella (Rossmässler, 1835) , C. minima (Siemaschko, 1774) , Discus rotundatus (Müller, 1847) , Helicella itala (Linnaeus,1758) , H. caperata (Montagu, 1803) , Cernuella virgata (Da Costa, 1778), young Helix aspersa Müller, 1774 , Fruticicola fruticum (O. F. Müller, 1774) , Trochulus hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758) , and Oxychilus Fitzinger, 1833 spp. However, Zonitoides arboreus (Say, 1817) , which are often abundant at the capture sites, is not attacked in the laboratory. Larvae first feed as predators and continue in a saprophagous manner after the prey is killed, after which they attack a second snail. This species is univoltine, overwintering in the pupal stage outside the snail shell, and flies from June to early November. The life cycle is described by Knutson (1973). We found the 35 specimens only in Malaise traps installed at 1400 m altitude in the natural pastures of the Sestrière site Vallon de Saint-Dalmas. Usually, this species is collected from the end of May to October, and even at altitudes as low as 2-3 m, as in parts of the Camargue, southwest France (Vala collector).

Figures

FIG. 3. — Coremacera marginata (Fabricius, 1775), male habitus. Scale bar: 0.5 cm.