Meckelia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 714

Evenhuis, Neal L., O’Hara, James E., Pape, Thomas & Pont, Adrian C., 2010, 2373, Zootaxa 2373, pp. 1-265 : 105

304. Meckelia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 714 .

ORIGINALLY INCLUDED SPECIES: Otites elegans Latreille, 1805 (as “ Oscinis elegans . Latr. Dict. d’Hist. natur.”); Meckelia philadelphica Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 .

TYPE SPECIES: Otites elegans Latreille, 1805 [= Musca formosa Panzer, 1798 ], by subsequent designation [ Coquillett, 1910: 565 (as “ Oscinis elegans DESVOIDY ”)].

CURRENT STATUS: Preoccupied by Leuckart, 1828; junior synonym of Otites Latreille, 1804 , n. syn.

FAMILY: ULIDIIDAE .

REMARKS: Soós (1984c: 53) listed the type species of Meckelia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 as “ Oscinis elegans Robineau-Desvoidy ” and, in the list of species below it, placed it as a junior synonym of Musca hortulana Rossi, 1790 . However, Musca hortulana Rossi, 1790 is preoccupied by Scopoli, 1763, and Musca hyalinata Panzer, 1798 is the next available name and therefore the valid name (in the genus Otites ). This latter synonymy was noted by Evenhuis (1989: 479). Moreover, Robineau-Desvoidy (1830: 714) did not propose a new species but was clearly referring to the “ Oscinis elegans ” of Latreille. Latreille originally described elegans in Otites in 1805 and then placed it in Oscinis ( Latreille, 1811: 565) when he wrote the “ Oscinis ” entry for the genus-group name in the Encyclopédie Méthodique. The reprinted Laporte edition of this work carried the title “ Dictionnaire Encyclopédique de l’Histoire Naturelle ”, hence Robineau Desvoidy’s attribution as “Latr. Dict. d’Hist. natur.” [see Evenhuis (2003a) for details on the publication and editions of this series]. Soós (1984c: 48) alleged that Otites elegans Latreille, 1805 was unavailable because it was proposed in synonymy with Musca formosa Panzer, 1798 , but Latreille (1811) made the name available by treating it as valid in his entry for “ Oscinis ” in the Encyclopédie Méthodique. The change in type species over what has been considered in previous catalogs places Meckelia in synonymy with Otites rather than with Ceroxys Macquart, 1835 .