Plesiomma lineata (Fabricius)

Scarbrough, Aubrey G. & Perez-Gelabert, Daniel E., 2006, A review of the asilid (Diptera) fauna from Hispaniola with six genera new to the island, fifteen new species, and checklist, Zootaxa 1381, pp. 1-91 : 80-81

Plesiomma lineata (Fabricius)

( Table 1)

Asilis lineatum Fabricius, 1781: 465 . Type locality: St. Croix , Virgin Islands, type: ♀? ( ZMUC) .

Dasypogon lineatus Fabricius, 1805: 13 .

Plesiomma macra Loew, 1861: 35 . Type locality: Cuba, type: ♂ .

Plesiomma lineata (Fabricius) . Back, 1909: 307; Bromley 1929: 276; Hull, 1962: 219; Martin & Papavero, 1970: 22. Catalogue.

Remarks. The identity of P. lineata is problematic because the type specimen is essentially destroyed, with only the thoracic dorsum surviving ( Martin & Papavero, 1970). The species has three easily recognized black stripes on the dorsum of the scutum. Thus, museum specimens and authors usually identified specimens with such markings as P. lineata . Unfortunately, most of the West Indian species have these stripes. Hull (1962) grouped Plesiomma into the subgenera Boropis Hull , Dapsilochaetus Hull , and Cystoprosopa Hull. Plesiomma lineata was designated the type species of Boropis Hull to include those species that lacked marginal scutellum bristles. Marginal scutellar bristles in this genus are often thin [with small sockets], readily subject to being broken. All Antillean species that we examined have marginal scutellar bristles. Bromley (1929) reported P. lineata from Cuba. Later, Farr (1963) reported it from Jamaica based on Bromley's paper. Yet the type locality of Plesiomma lineata is St. Croix, Virgin Islands, 'Habitat in Insula St. Crux Americes. Dom. Vahl.' ( Fabricius, 1781; see Fabrician dipterous types in Thompson, 1981; Zimsen, 1964).

Bromley (1929) listed Plesiomma macra Loew as a synonym of P. lineata . The type locality of the species is Cuba but its identity is also uncertain because the type is lost ( Martin & Papavero, 1970). Furthermore, we have not located Bromley's specimens of P. lineata (= P. macra ) from Cuba or Farr's P. lineata from Jamaica for study. Illustrations of the male terminalia of the Jamaican P. lineata distinguish it from the 3 Hispaniolan species. Since there are no authenticated records of P. lineata from Cuba, Jamaica, or Hispaniola and its distribution is thus far limited to St. Croix, P. macra is removed from synonymy.

Distribution. St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.