Eumerus cistanchei Efflatoun, 1926

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A., Ahmad, Syed Kamran, Al-Dhafer, Hathal & Turner, James, 2020, An overview of the Syrphidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 4855 (1), pp. 1-69 : 26

Eumerus cistanchei Efflatoun, 1926

( Figs 25–27 )

Eumerus cistanchei Efflatoun, 1926: 297

Examined specimens. 1♂, Asir, Maraba, Al-Hudaity Fruit Farm , 22.iv. 2013, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 1♀, same locality but 15.x–30.xi.2004 ( CERS) ; 1♀, Jazan, Abu-Aresh, Al-Mahdag Village , 22.iv.2012, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) ; 1♂, 1♀, Jazan, Farasan Island, Aziz Yousef Village , 2–15.iii.2014, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS; NMWC) ; 1♂, Najran, Al-Shurfa, Saleh Maqbol Farm , 14–28.v.2014, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah ( CERS) .

Distribution. This is the first record from Saudi Arabia. E. cistanchei was described from Egypt and is further recorded from Israel and United Arab Emirates ( Peck 1988; Smit et al. 2017).

Remarks. This species was reared from the stems of Cistanche phelypae (L.) Cout. ( Orobanchaceae ), which is an obligate parasitic plant used locally as food ( Dirickx 1994). E. cistanchei could be associated with C. phelypae ( Table 2) which is recorded from Jazan, Farasan Island by Rahman et al. (2002) and from Jazan mainland by Masrahi (2012) but this needs confirmation as there is no record of E. cistanchei being reared from C. phelypae in Saudi Arabia.

Figures

FIGURE 25–27. Habitus of Eumerus cistanchei Efflatoun, 1926. Male, 25) dorsal view, 26) same, lateral view, 27) female, lateral view.