Simulium (Rubzovia) lamachi Doby and David, 1960

Crosskey, Roger W. & Crosskey, Margaret E., 2000, An investigation of the black ¯ y fauna of Andalusia, southern Spain (Diptera: Simuliidae), Journal of Natural History 34 (6), pp. 895-951 : 926

17. Simulium (Rubzovia) lamachi Doby and David

Spain references: Clergue-Gazeau and VincËon (1990), VincËon and Clergue-Gazeau (1993: 166), GonzaÂlez (1997).

Andalusia records

Authors’ material. None. (Previously known site prospected unsuccessfully on 8.iii.1995 when no running water found.)

Other specimens seen. Granada: 1 pupa, 1 pupal exuviae, 1 larva, Sierra de Tejeda , above Cortijo de la Huerta de Hoyos , near road from Alhama de Granada to VeÂlez MaÂlaga , 1200 m [VF0888], 14.iv.1987 (VincËon) ( BMHN) .

Previous reports. The specimens just listed (donated by M. Clergue-Gazeau) formed part of material collected at this site in the Sierra de Tejeda by VincËon and reported by Clergue-Gazeau and VincËon (1990). [The Cortijo de la Huerta de Hoyos is not on the IGN 1:200 000 Granada Province map but is shown on the map of the same scale in the Mapa Militar de EspanÄa coverage, Sheet 5±11. The watercourse itself is marked on the IGN Granada Province map and there named Arroyo de Pedro Montes.]

Remarks

This extremely rare species, described from France, is known from France and Morocco, and from a single locality in Spain, namely a shaded spring-stream in the Sierra de Tejeda , south-central Andalusia (Clergue-Gazeau and VincËon, 1990); we have not found it. The species cannot be overlooked because its unusual biramous pupal gill (®gure 14) is unmistakable. The larva lacks the postgenal cleft and its hypostomium has a distinctly tri®d form. The species is discussed in comparison to others of the subgenus Rubzovia by Crosskey et al. (1998).

Carlsson (1969) listed a male ¯y from Andalusia which perhaps belongs to subgenus Rubzovia and which it is therefore relevant to mention here. Carlsson found the specimen in the material he received for study from the ZMC collection and must have made a genitalia slide preparation since he wrote (p. 204)`This male is a typical SchoÈnbaueria species with exception of the parameral hooks: these are 5 on each side against the usual 2’. Carlsson’s assignment was surely incorrect, for the subgenus SchoÈnbaueria is absent from western Europe. On the other hand, it remains uncertain to which subgenus the specimen belongs because the genitalia preparation cannot be found in ZMC; it is presumed lost. Carlsson’s mention of ®ve parameral spines is strongly suggestive of Rubzovia , and for this reason we provide here some comments on the specimen concerned.

The specimen carries Carlsson’s handwritten label as` SchoÈnbaueria sp. ’ and a printed label` Spain, Granada. Rio Lanjaron near Lanjaron 28. April 1966 600 m Lyneb.-Martin-Langem.’, this label conforming to the data published by Carlsson. It is in very bad condition, generally discoloured, the abdomen missing (probably removed in toto to make the genitalia slide), * left fore and mid legs and right hind leg missing, both wings torn and incomplete. The most pertinent characters are: antennae dark brown except ®rst two segments orange-yellow; scutum without pattern; postnotum bare; pleural membrane bare; basal section of radial vein haired; fore tarsus extremely slender; hind basitarsus long-subfusiform; calcipala well developed, pedisulcus virtually absent; legs (though faded) apparently with femora and tibiae reddish yellow except at their apices. These characters and the presence of ®ve parameral spines (Carlsson’s statement), suggest assignment to Rubzovia more than any other subgenus. However, the pale-base antennae contradict S. (R.) lamachi and S. (R.) knidirii Giudicelli and Thiery (the latter a Moroccan species) since the antennae are uniformly black according to the descriptions of these species.