Lispe tentaculata De Geer, 1776

Vikhrev, Nikita E., 2021, Lispe (Diptera, Muscidae) of Africa, Amurian Zoological Journal XIII (3), pp. 369-400 : 387

Lispe tentaculata De Geer, 1776

Lispe tentaculata De Geer, 1776 ( Vikhrev 2011; Vikhrev 2014)

Lispe tentaculata tentaculata De Geer, 1776

Material examined: see ( Vikhrev 2014, under L. tentaculata ).

Distribution. Africa: Egypt, Ethiopia: Amhara and Oromia regions. Holarctic species with remarkably wide range from over Polar Circle (68.6 ° N) to the Equator almost (8.8 ° N) on African highlands.

Lispe tentaculata draperi Séguy, 1933 , stat. nov.

Material examined: see ( Vikhrev 2014, under L. draperi ).

Distribution. Africa: Algeria and Morocco.

Remarks. Hennig (1960: 430) examined the type L. draperi and provisionally maintained it as a good species although he considered that the type might be an aberrant specimen of L. tentaculata . Later it was sunk as a synonym of L. tentaculata by Pont (1986). Vikhrev (2011) found that L. draperi has an inner process on sternite 5 of a different shape (short and with blunt apex) than that of L. tentaculata (see: Vikhrev 2014: figs 15 and 16). According to the generally accepted opinion that even minute differences in the structure of genitalia are especially taxonomically significant, I proposed to again regard L. draperi as a valid species.

Presently I no longer share this point of view. I estimate that the Maghrebian population of L. tentaculata is isolated from the main Palaearctic population of the species since the end of the last African humid period when Sahara was a savannah, not a desert as now. The last African humid period finished 5000–6000 years ago, this is not enough for forming reproductive isolation. I believe that the subspecies rank L. tentaculata draperi stat. nov. would be the best solution.