Heteralonia (Acrodisca) katonae (Bezzi, 1924)

Greathead, David J. & Evenhuis, Neal L., 2004, New species of Bombylioidea in Mario Bezzi’s Unpublished Hungarian Museum Manuscript, Zootaxa 773, pp. 1-56 : 40-41

Heteralonia (Acrodisca) katonae (Bezzi, 1924)

( Figs. 25–28)

76. Exoprosopa (Acrodisca) katonae ɗɗ Tanzania: Mto­ya­Kifaru, 5– 10.xii & i.1904 (Katona). MS page [77].

Bezzi, 1924: 235 – key only.

Evenhuis & Greathead, 1999: 385 – listed an undetermined number of syntypes (lost) in MSNM.

Types: Two syntype males found in MSNM: Tanzania: Mto­ya­Kifaru, 1905 (Katona). Both are in good condition although they both lack one antennal flagellum, one has the apical tarsomeres of the hind legs missing and the other some damage to the wing tips. The one without damage to the tarsomeres is here designated lectotype ( Fig. 25).

77. Exoprosopa (Acrodisca) pilimana 1Ψ Tanzania: Mto­ya­Kifaru, 5–10.xii.1904 (Katona). MS page [80].

Bezzi, 1924: 235 – key only.

Hesse, 1950: 25 – description as Exoprosopa nephoneura , SYN. NOV.

Bowden, 1980: 420 – synonymised pilimana with katonae .

Evenhuis & Greathead, 1999: 385 – listed (incorrectly) an undetermined number of syntypes (lost) in MSNM.

Types: One female specimen in MSNM – Tanzania: Mto­ya­Kifaru (Katona). Bezzi based pilimana on a single specimen. The specimen in MSNM is thus a holotype ( Fig. 27) and not a syntype as listed in Evenhuis & Greathead (1999).

Remarks: Hesse (1950) described Exoprosopa nephoneura from specimens of both sexes collected in Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa (Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu­Natal) remarking that it was ‘the same or very near to pilimana Bezzi’ and noting that the character of the fore tarsi given by Bezzi (1924) for separation of his two species is a sexual character. Bowden (1980) synonymised pilimana with katonae and transferred both to the genus Heteralonia with the distribution for katonae as: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Both Bowden (1980) and Evenhuis & Greathead (1999) incorrectly gave the type locality as “ Uganda ”. Thus, as now understood H. katonae is a widespread species of the tropical eastern and southern African savannas.

The vestiture of the body is similar in both sexes consisting of pale yellow hair and paler yellow scales with black hair on the frons, intermixed with the yellow hair on the pleura and fringing the abdominal terga from the second. In addition there are black scale bands across the abdominal terga. The wing pattern is sexually dimorphic (cf. figs. 26, 28) with the male having all the veins bordered with brown in addition to the brown basicostal infuscation and brown borders to the crossveins of the female.