Cheilosia (Cheilosia) himantopus (Panzer, 1798)

Fig. 34

Syrphus himantopus Panzer, 1797: 9 .

Differential diagnosis

Cheilosia himantopus is very similar to C. canicularis, but it flies in spring rather than in summer. For morphological differences, see the Differential diagnosis under C. canicularis . Similar to C. orthotricha, which on average flies earlier in spring. C. himantopus differs from C. orthotricha by having ventral half of eye bare (at most ventral one third bare in C. orthotricha), pile on posterior anepisternum with wavy apex (with straight apex in C. orthotricha) and face slightly pruinose (shiny in C. orthotricha).

Material examined

Cheilosia himantopus was not collected in 2018, but collected in 2019 and 2022.

GEORGIA – Imereti • 1 ♂; Abastumani, road Abastumani to Sairme; 41.8242° N, 42.8472° E; 2150 m a.s.l.; 10 Jun. 2019; F. Van de Meutter leg.; FMT . – Kakheti • 1 ♀; Kobadze; 41.861393° N, 45.301954° E; 1430 m a.s.l.; 1 Jun. 2022; X. Mengual leg.; ZFMK, ZFMK-DIP-00094142 = ZFMKTIS-8014588 . – Samtskhe-Javakheti • 1 ♀; road from Sakire to Tsikhisjvari; 41.7250° N, 43.3606° E; 2519 m a.s.l.; 9 Jun. 2019; F. Van de Meutter leg.; FMT • 1 ♂; Borjomi N.P.; 41.7280° N, 43.3640° E; 2327 m a.s.l.; 9 Jun. 2019; L. Hofstee leg.; LHH • 2 ♀♀; road from Sakire to Tsikhisjvari; 41.7251° N, 43.3605° E; 2519 m a.s.l.; 9 Jun. 2019; X. Mengual leg.; ZFMK, ZFMK-DIP-00066518 = ZFMKTIS-8008823, ZFMK-DIP-00066519 = ZFMK-TIS-8008824 • 1 ♀; Borjomi N.P.; 41.8210° N, 42.8340° E; 1992 m a.s.l.; 11 Jun. 2019; S. Bot leg.; SBA, SB.002961 • 3 ♀♀; Abastumani; 41.79° N, 42.82° E; 1515 m a.s.l.; 11 Jun. 2019; J. van Steenis leg.; JSB, 2019-00.800 to 2019-00.802

Genetics

In our NJ tree we recover a cluster (BS = 99.8%) with the barcodes of C. himantopus and the sequences of C. canicularis . Although certain structure can be seen in the arrangement of the molecular data, both species cannot be distinguished unmistakenly with DNA barcodes.

Remarks

Reported from the Caucasus for the first time. Maybe the species was overlooked before given that several references for the Caucasus predate Stuke & Claussen (2000) in which the identification and status of C. himantopus were clarified.

Biology

During our expeditions, collected between 1 June and 11 June at an altitude between 1430 and 2519 m a.s.l.

Distribution

Europe, Caucasus (Georgia).