Empidideicus completus Bezzi, 1926

Greathead, David J. & Evenhuis, Neal L., 2004, New species of Bombylioidea in Mario Bezzi’s Unpublished Hungarian Museum Manuscript, Zootaxa 773, pp. 1-56 : 13-14

Empidideicus completus Bezzi, 1926

26. Empidideicus completus 1Ψ Eritrea: Assab, 1907 (Katona). MS page 23.

Bezzi, 1926: 254 – included in a key to species of Cyrtosiinae [= Mythicomyiidae ] and a footnote: ‘espèce d’Assab, appartennant au Musée de Budapest’, validating the species and indicating the type deposited in HNHM.

Hesse, 1967: 108 – placed it (calling it an Egyptian [sic] species) in the subgenus Anomaloptilus Hesse.

Bowden, 1980: 383 – treated Anomaloptilus as a junior synonym of Empidideicus . Evenhuis, 2002: 32 – type in HNHM noted as destroyed.

Types: No specimens found. Holotype female in HNHM destroyed in 1956.

Remarks. The species was based on a single female in HNHM that was destroyed in 1956. No further specimens have been found from Eritrea or nearby localities including Yemen that fit the characters of this species. It is hereby relegated to nomen dubium until such time as specimens fitting the description can be found.

Bezzi’s Latin diagnosis is given here:

“Pallide luteus, pedibus concoloribus, proboscide antennisque nigris, thoracis disco abdominisque segmentorum basi nigris opacis, alis albido­hyalinis, nervis decolaribus, cellula discoidali completa”.

Bezzi’s full description (translated from the Latin):

Length of body and wing. 1.3 mm.

“Head pale yellow, occiput opaque black, frons bare, parallel laterally; third of head lateral part equal; face bare horizontal [= prognathus], eyes round, large. Antennae inserted in a straight line between the vertex and oral margin, all black, bases approximate, short, basal segments minute, third short, ovate, truncated, style strong placed terminal. Proboscis strong, thick, sharp, black, directed backward, underside longer. Thorax and remainder of body bare, opaque black dorsally; humeri, lateral line, crescent­shaped spot above humeri, and other small sutures yellow; pleurae all ochraceous, blackish markings; below black. Scutellum ochraceous, dark black basomedially, black below. Halter large pale yellow, club white. Squama indistinct. Abdomen white, first four segments with black basal fasciae. Legs all yellowish­white, unarmed and bare; femora well thickened; claws and pulvilli small but distinct. Wing whitish hyaline, without spots, veins pale; bases of first, third and transverse veins thick, remainder very tenuous difficult to distinguish. Inferior branch of fourth vein with upper branch much from transverse scarcely connected so that discoidal cell from second posterior distinctly placed.”

Bezzi manuscript has a key to three species from the “Ethiopian Region” that he placed in Empidideicus : E. beckeri Bezzi (now in Cephalodromia ), E. melleus Bezzi (now in Mnemomyia ), and E. completus Bezzi. Empidideicus completus was characterised in that key by having a complete discoidal cell (cell d), a yellow thorax with matte black dorsally, and an abdomen that was white with black spots on the basal portions of the tergites.

These combinations of characters are found in a number of specimens from the area near the type locality. However, the specific characters mentioned in the description, specifically, the scutellum being yellowish [Bezzi’s “ luteum” = ochraceous or mud­yellow] with matte black basomedially in combination with a yellow mesonotum with opaque black dorsally cannot be found in any described species nor in any undetermined material from Africa or the Middle East currently at hand.