Anthrax galali El-Hawagry, 2002

El-Hawagry, Magdi S., 2021, Taxonomy of the genus Anthrax Scopoli (Diptera: Bombyliidae) in Egypt, Journal of Natural History 55 (9 - 10), pp. 597-624 : 608-610

Anthrax galali El-Hawagry, 2002 ( Figures 6 , 16 (a))

Anthrax galali El-Hawagry, 2002: 2 . Type locality: Egypt (Sinai: Wadi El-Rabba ) .

Diagnosis

Male: 8.2–12.2 mm in length ( Figure 16 (a)). Frons with fine white dust, usually along inner eye-margins only, covered on upper third with black hairs and short scaly hairs, and greyyellow or brown-yellow mixed with black hairs on lower two-thirds. Face covered with black hairs mixed with brown-yellow scaly hairs. Scutum and scutellum covered with yellowish, whitish and black tomentum of fine hairs and scaly hairs. Pleura almost bare, white dusted. Wings hyaline, with a more or less weak infuscation on basal half and costal area, forming darker areas appearing as blurs on cross-veins, although usually with a more or less evident smoky grey tinge. Cross-vein r-m placed before middle of discal medial cell (dm), just after origin of R2+3 with more or less well developed appendix. Plumula white. Legs black, with apex of femora and tibiae as well as front tarsi obscure red-brown. Abdomen dull black, with three apical segments laterally compressed. 1st tergite with long pure white tufts of hairs on sides and corners, and with sparse long grey or brown-grey hairs on dorsum. 2nd tergite with black tufts of hairs on sides shorter than those of 1st tergite; dorsum with long sparse and scattered black hairs, mixed with numerous minute scaly hairs which are tawny about centre, whitish on sides, and with more or less numerous pure white scales on posterior border, being more dense on sides. 3rd tergite more or less similar to 2nd, but the white scales on lower border very irregularly scattered about centre, assuming a yellowish tinge. 4th tergite with all hairs mainly black; 3rd and 4th tergites may have sparse whitish hairs amongst black tufts at sides; white scales more numerous with a more pronounced yellowish colour about centre. 5th–7th segments laterally compressed, with glistening pale brown-yellow hairs, except for a few black hairs around centre as well as on triangular tip of abdomen; densely covered with whitish scales on sides, being yellowish elsewhere; with scales absent on centre forming black mid-dorsal longitudinal stripe. Apical exposed prolongations of gonocoxites relatively narrow, with normal short, black, not stout setae ( Figure 6 (a)); epiphallus complicated apically, with some small characteristic spines ( Figure 6 (b)). Female: Like male but infuscation on wing is frequently darker, with a tendency to form spots on basal half. Apical segments of abdomen not laterally compressed, with white scales only on their lower borders forming regular transverse bands. Spermatheca ( Figure 6 (c)) with a sclerotised balloon-shaped bulb and a long, sclerotised sperm pump.

Material examined

Holotype male, W. El-Rabba (S. Sinai) (28.568214°N, 33.955202°E), 13–19 April 1940 (Efflatoun, leg.); paratypes: 2 females, same data as holotype [ ESEC] . Other material: 1 female, same data as holotype [ EFC].

Figures

Figure 6. Anthrax galali: (a) gonocoxites, ventral view; (b) hypopygium, lateral view; (c) spermatheca.

Figure 16. Anthrax spp., habitus: (a) A. galali; (b) A. moursyi; (c) A. pharaonis, neotype; (d) A. sticticus; (e) A. trifasciatus; (f) A. zohrayensis.