Hybos culiciformis Fabricius, 1775

Zouhair, Laila & Kettani, Kawtar, 2022, Moroccan Hybotinae (Diptera: Hybotidae): first record of the subfamily and rare genera with an emphasis on their distribution, Zootaxa 5196 (2), pp. 211-222 : 215

Hybos culiciformis Fabricius, 1775

( Fig. 3A )

Material examined. Morocco. 2♂, Rif , Maison forestière, Jbel Talassemtane, NPTL (site 1), 1696 m, 7.vi.– 7.x.2017, Malaise trap, leg. K. Kettani ; 1♂. Rif , Bab Rfifa, PNPB (site 2), 1421 m, 25.v.–25.vi.2019, Malaise trap, leg. K. Kettani ( PCLZ) .

Distribution in Palaearctic Region. Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Turkey ( Shamshev et al. 2015). First record from Morocco.

Comments. This is the first record of the genus Hybos and H. culiciformis from Morocco, and the second record of the genus and species from North Africa, where they have been recorded in Algeria ( Shamshev et al. 2015). Shamshev et al. (2015) pointed out some difference in some taxonomic characters related to the thoracic setation color and genitalia between the typical form of Hybos culiciformis and specimens taken from the Mediterranean and North Africa ( Algeria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Lebanon and Turkey). The Mediterranean and North Africa specimens have entirely black setation on the thorax while normally at least the apical scutellar setae should be pale, plus other more distinct variations in the male genitalia in the populations of Italy, Greece and Lebanon, which led to conclude that several new undescribed species are present in the Mediterranean region ( Shamshev et al. 2015). This was later proven by the description of a new species among the Greek population ( Hybos conicus Grootaert and Barták 2021 ) in Kanavalová et al. (2021). Shamshev et al. (2015) examined also some specimens taken from mixed populations of H. culiciformis from Portugal which present two forms, ones with long yellow setae on the scutum and whose genitalia were identical to those of central and northern European populations, and other ones with black long setae on the scutum with slightly different genitalia. The COI barcoding carried out by Shamshev et al. (2015) on this species didn’t show significant differences in male genitalia within the mixed Portuguese populations.

The examination of the Moroccan specimens of H. culiciformis found that they have black thoracic setae with pale apical scutellar setae, which reveals that they are compatible with the typical form of H. culiciformis in which at least the apical scutellar setae should be pale ( Shamshev et al. 2015). The terminalia dissection shows that the Moroccan specimens are similar to Portugal specimens, which have black setae on the scutum.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Habitus male. A. Hybos culiciformis; B. Hybos striatellus. Scale: 500 µm