Echinomya conjugata Rondani, 1859

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 304-305

Echinomya conjugata Rondani, 1859

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: 1859b: 49 (key), 56 (description).

TYPE LOCALITY: “ in agro parmensi … et etiam in tota Italia communissima … a Pedemontio , Insubria , Etruria, Regno Neapolitano , insula Melita , Sardinia etc. [ Parmese territory … very common in all Italy … Piedmont, Insubria (= Lombardy), Etruria (= Tuscany), Neapolitan Kingdom, Malta Island, Sardinia, etc.]” .

TYPE MATERIAL: 5 ♂♂, syntypes (one with abdomen and thorax partially eaten by dermestids; one missing left midleg; one missing right fore-leg) ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. ♂ / 487; 3 ♂♂, syntypes ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♂ / 487; 1 ♂, syntype (missing right mid-leg) ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♂ / 487 / Napoli; 1 ♂, syntype ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♂ / 487 / Vici [label not interpreted]; 1 ♂, syntype (missing right mid- and hind-legs) ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♂ / 487 / Abetone; 1 ♂, syntype ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♂ / 487 / Madonie, Sicilia; 7 ♀♀, syntypes (one with abdomen and thorax partially eaten by dermestids; one missing right fore-leg; one missing left fore-leg; one missing right wing) ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♀ / 487; 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, syntypes (one missing abdomen; couples pinned together) ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♀ / 487; 2 ♀♀, syntypes ( MZUF: Box 10): Echynomya [sic!] Dmrl / conjugata Rnd. , ♀ / 487; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, syntypes ( MZUF: Box E): Echinomya conjugata 171, ♂ ♀, Parma / 393 171; 1 ♀, syntype ( MRSN: Box 64): Ech. conjugata Rond. ♀; 1 ♀, syntype ( MRSN: Box 64): Ech. conjugata Rond. ♀ / [illegible label]; 1 ♂, syntype (missing head and right fore-leg) ( MSNC: Box DIPTERA Ex collezione Rondani - I): Echinomya conjugata R. ♂ ♀ Parma / Coll. Rondani, scatola n° 4, posiz. H-14 / Museo di Storia Naturale Università di Pisa, Calci ( PI) ex collezione Rondani; 1 ♀, syntype (both mid-legs) ( MSNC: Box DIPTERA Ex collezione Rondani - I): Echinomya conjugata R. ♀ Parm. / Coll. Rondani, scatola n° 4, posiz. H-15 / Museo di Storia Naturale Università di Pisa, Calci ( PI) ex collezione Rondani.

CURRENT STATUS: junior synonym of Tachina magnicornis ( Zetterstedt, 1844) ( Herting & Dely-Draskovits 1993: 266) .

REMARKS: Rondani (1859b: 56) described both sexes of Echinomya conjugata without specifying either the number or the length of the specimens, but presumably from more than one specimen because he wrote: “ vulgaris [common]”. Under the name of the species, Rondani (1859b: 56) stated: “ tessellata Desv. Macq. (non Mgn)— fera (Var.) Rossi. Petag. [= Petagna] Zett.”. Rondani referred to the redescription of Echinomya tessellata ( Fabricius, 1794) sensu Robineau-Desvoidy (1830: 47, 1844: 17 ) and sensu Macquart (1833: 323, 1834: 73, 1845: 258), to Musca fera Linnaeus, 1761 sensu Rossi (1807: 464) and Petagna (1786: 43) and to Echinomya fera (Linnaeus, 1761) sensu Zetterstedt (1844: 994) . However, Rondani (p. 55) specified: “ E’ impossibile stabilire con sicurezza a quali specie degli autori si debbano riportare tutte le innumerevoli varietà di alcune Echinomye [It is impossible to establish with confidence which authors’ species we must refer to for all the numerous varieties of Echinomya ]”. So, the types of Echinomya conjugata should be only in Rondani’s collection. We found 31 syntypes in this study (MZUF, MRSN and MSNC). Not included in the type series are an additional three specimens: a MZUF male from “ Zurich ”, which is not the type locality, a MZUF female dated “1877”, which is subsequent to the description, and a MRSN female collected by E. Giglio Tos (1865–1926) and therefore it is a subsequent addition.