Cyrtosia meridionalis Rondani

Gharali, Babak & Evenhuis, Neal, 2017, Review of the genus Cyrtosia Perris (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Platypyginae) in Iran, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 4269 (2), pp. 230-244 : 239

Cyrtosia meridionalis Rondani

Cyrtosia meridionalis Rondani, 1863: 73 .

Material examined. No material was available for study. Apparently, the type specimen is lost (type depository is unknown) so the original description was checked and used for comparison.

Description. Color of frons, lower face and oral margin completely yellow; proboscis slightly shorter than head; antennae black. Thorax. Mesonotum with three stripes coalescent as a large black pattern, middle stripes extend from anterior margin of mesonotum to scutellum; postpronotal lobe, lateral margin of mesonotum from postpronotal lobe to postalar callus almost yellow; scutellum all yellow except small spot of black basomedially; halter yellow. Legs. Yellow except base of coxae and tarsal segments blackish; femora gray dusted. Wing. Hyaline, with yellow veins; stalk of vein M1+2 slightly longer than preceding section. Abdomen. Tergites anteriorly black, posteriorly yellow, with short whitish hairs, some with bluish sheen. Genitalia. Hypopygium black.

Remarks. This species was originally described based on an unspecified number of specimens collected in Italy. The original description by Rondani (1863) was very short, in Latin and included few characters: body yellow; antennae and proboscis black; occiput glossy black; thorax dorsally with three wide stripes, with black spot in front of wing base, pleura blackened; scutellum completely yellow.

Later, Becker & Stein (1912) extended the distribution of C. meridionalis to south of Iran by recording 4 male and female specimens collected by Zarudny in 1898 in two provinces of southeast of Iran , Sistan-Baluchistan and Kerman. Engel (1933) redescribed this species in more detail based on specimens collected from Askhabad , Turkmenistan and provided two illustrations of the lateral and dorsal view of the mesonotum. Engel’s description includes some diagnostic characters allowing for easy separation of C. meridionalis from closely related species known from Iran. Based on Engel’s (1933) redescription, we here provide a diagnostic description of the species.