Ischiodon scutellaris (Fabricius, 1805)

Mengual, Ximo, 2018, A new species of Ischiodon Sack (Diptera, Syrphidae) from Madagascar, African Invertebrates 59 (1), pp. 55-73 : 58-59

Ischiodon scutellaris (Fabricius, 1805) Figure 6

Scaeva scutellaris Fabricius, 1805: 252. Type-locality: India: Tamil Nadu, Tharangambadi. Syntypes, ZMUC.

Syrphus coromandelensis Macquart, 1842: 149. Type-locality: India: 'Cote de Coromandel’.

Sphaerophoria annulipes Macquart, 1855: 116. Type-locality: Marquesas Is.

Syrphus splendens Doleschall, 1856: 410. Type-locality: Indonesia: Java.

Syrphus nodalis Thomson, 1869: 497. Type-locality: French Polynesia: Society Is., Tahiti.

Syrphus erythropygus Bigot, 1884: 87. Type-locality: ‘Indes’.

Syrphus ruficauda Bigot, 1884: 96. Type-locality: New Caledonia.

Melithreptus novaeguineae Kertesz, 1899: 178. Type-locality: Papua New Guinea: Astrolabe Bay, Erima.

Ischiodon trochanterica Sack, 1913: 6. Type-locality: Taiwan: Kanshizei, Puli as ‘Polisha’, Suihenkyaku, Tainan and Takao.

Melithreptus ogasawarensis Matsumura, 1916: 23. Type-locality: Japan: Bonin Is., Ogasawara-jima.

Ischiodon boninensis Matsumura, 1919: 128. Type-locality: Japan: Bonin Is., Chichi-jima, Ogasawara-jima.

Epistrophe platychiroides Frey, 1946: 164. Type-locality: Philippines: Luzon, Quezon, Atimonan.

Ischiodon penicillatus Hardy, 1952: 363; nomen nudum.

Epistrophe magnicornis Shiraki, 1963: 141. Type-locality: Micronesia: Chuuk State, Weno Is.

Sphaerophoria macquarti Goot, 1964: 220. New name for annulipes Macquart.

Differential diagnosis.

Very widespread species with yellow abdominal marking reaching lateral margins (Fig. 6A, C). Males have the metatrochanters with a short calcar (Fig. 6E) and the claws in all legs are symmetrical. The pattern of tergite 2 in females is variable and cannot always be relied on to distinguish the females of I. scutellaris from those of I. aegyptius .

Geographical distribution.

From Greece, eastwards to Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Iran, Arabian Peninsula south to Indomalayan region, China, Japan, Taiwan and Australasian and Oceanian regions except Hawaii. I. scutellaris has not been reported from Korea ( Han and Choi 2001).

Material examined.

More than 150 specimens from Greece, UAE, Kazakhstan, Iran, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, New Caledonia and French Polynesia. The syntypes of Scaeva scutellaris Fabricius, 1805 were not studied for the present study.

Remarks.

In their excellent treatment of the flower fly fauna of the Arabian Peninsula, Smit et al. (2017) recorded I. aegyptius (as Simosyrphus aegyptius) from the UAE, Yemen and Socrota Is. and mentioned that the species was previously known from Saudi Arabia. Amongst the examined material, there are two males of I. scutellaris labelled as follows: UAE: Wadi Bih, dam, 25°48'N, 56°4.20'E, 4-13.i.2011, C. Schmid-Egger [1♂, CSCA; ZFMK-DIP-00026784]; Wadi Maidaq, 25°18.6'N, 56°7.8'E, 11-19.iii.2009, C. Schmid-Egger [1♂, CSCA; ZFMK-DIP-00026785]. These two males are the first records of I. scutellaris for the UAE and for the entire Arabian Peninsula.