Phthiria nitens Bezzi

30. Phthiria nitens 1Ψ Ethiopia: Jerer Shet’, vi.1911. MS page 29.

Bezzi, 1924: 20 – name only in ‘List of the Bombyliidae of the Ethiopian Region’ Evenhuis & Greathead, 1999: 28 – Nomen nudum.

Types: No types found. The single specimen listed in Bezzi’s manuscript in HNHM was destroyed in 1956.

Remarks: No mention of the name Phthiria nitens has been found in Bezzi’s published works other than the listing of the name in Bezzi (1924), which is not sufficient to validate the name. No specimens of any Phthiria spp. are known from any of the countries between Kenya in the south and Egypt and Israel in the north, excepting the island of Socotra, so that there are no specimens with which his manuscript description can be compared. Thus, this name is confirmed as a nomen nudum.