Atherigona (Atherigona) pulla ( Wiedemann, 1830 )

Deeming, John C. & Kirk-Spriggs, Ashley H., 2024, A contribution to the knowledge of Namibian Atherigona Rondani (Diptera: Muscidae), with the descriptions of four new species and two new subspecies, Zootaxa 5536 (4), pp. 501-535 : 523

Atherigona (Atherigona) pulla ( Wiedemann, 1830)

Fig. 28

Coenosia pulla Wiedemann, 1830: 441 .

Orthostylum rufipes Macquart, 1851a: 245 ( 1851b: 272).

Atherigona destructor Malloch, 1923: 185 .

Atherigona pulla : Pont 1972: 51, fig. 14 (synonymised with A. destructor ); Deeming 1979: 39; Deeming & Overman 1987: 118; Dike 2003: 221 (distribution); Muller 2015: 895, fig. 6; Muller & Mostovski 2018: 353, fig. 3.

Material examined: 1♂, Kaudom Game Park, Cwiba River, 18°26'18''S, 20°42'49''E, 30.xii.1998, A . H. Kirk-Spriggs , sweeping grassy floodplain ( NMNW) ; 12♂, 1♀, Katima Mulilo District, Salambala pan, 17°50'00''S, 24°35'58''E, 23–27.xii.2002, A . H. & M.K. Kirk-Spriggs, Malaise trap sample (11♂, 1♀, NMNW; 1♂, NMWC) ; 1♂, Katima Mulilo District, Salambala pan, 17°50'00''S, 24°35'58''E, 01–04.iii.2001, A .H. Kirk-Spriggs, Malaise trap sample; 3♂, Opuwa District, Ekuju village , Kunene River, 17°19'30''S, 13°48'56''E, 11–12.x.1999, [ A.H.] Kirk-Spriggs, [T.] Pape & [W.] Hauwanga, Malaise trap riverine forest ; 1♂, Tsumkwe District, Xawasha pan, 19°09'58''S, 20°54'40''E, 27.xii.1998, A .H. Kirk-Spriggs, Malaise trap; 6♂, 3♀, West Caprivi Park, Kwando River, Susuwe , 17°45'37''S, 23°20'55''E, 28.ix–02.x.1998, A . H. Kirk-Spriggs , Malaise trap in dry woodland (all NMNW) .

Remarks: One male specimen from Salambala pan (cited above), is entirely devoid of the specialised fore tarsal chaetotaxy apparent in the other specimens. Deeming (1979: 39) reported that males examined from Samaru, Nigeria were typical, in that the fore basitarsus possessed long, erect, sinuate anterodorsal setulae, that were even longer than those of a typical specimen from India figured by Pont (1972: 96, fig. 14h). Of the material examined, this is apparent only in specimens from Saudi Arabia (Palaearctic) and Zimbabwe. Such variation in the male fore basitarsal chaetotaxy is not unique, but also occurs in A. (s. str.) tomentigera Emden, 1940 , between East and West African populations. It is interesting that all Namibian males of A. (s. str.) pulla examined that have this specialised chaetotaxy, also have the fore tarsus infuscate, whereas those that lack it have the fore tarsus yellow. This difference is not reflected by the locality or period of the year sampled, it being quite random, but the form lacking such chaetotaxy was twice as often found as that with it. The female tergite 8 is figured in Fig. 28 .

Distribution: (Afrotropical): Burkina Faso *, Chad *, Ethiopia *, Gambia *, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Namibia *, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe; (Oriental): China, India and Sri Lanka; (Palaearctic): Cyprus, Iraq, Israel *, Italy (Sicily), Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia * and Turkey. 3♂, “ Burkina Faso, Farako-Ba, fish meal in Sorghum plot, vii-xi. 1989, J. Zongo”, 1♀, “Wadi Mangalma, Canton Njigidada, Ngouri Sous-préf. Lac Pref. Tchad, 27.viii.1991, P.C. Matteson, on okra, 1♀, “ Gambia: Abuko Forest Reserve, 16.xi.1993, J.C. Deeming”, 1♂, “ Ethiopia, Alemaya, 10.viii.1993, S. Gudeta”, 1♀, “N. Israel, Jordan Valley, N. of Tiberias, 27.iv.1984, K. A. Spencer” and 5♂, “ Tunisia, Tabarka, meadow, 13.v.1995, J.C. Deeming”, deposited in NMWC, represent new country records.

Host-plants: The type series of Atherigona (s. str.) destructor Malloch, 1923 , which is a junior synonym of A. (s. str.) pulla , was reared from Proso millet, Panicum miliaceum L. in South India and the species has also been reared from Indian millet, P. sumatrense Roth ex Roem. & Schult. and Kodo millet, Paspalum scrobiculatum L. (all Poaceae ).

Figures

FIGURES 24–28. Female terminalia (tergite 8) of Atherigona spp., dorsal views. 24. A. (s. str.) angulata Deeming. 25. A. (s. str.) corrugata Deeming. 26. A. (s. str.) maraisi Deeming, sp. nov. 27. A. (s. str.) parvihumilata Muller. 28. A. (s. str.) pulla (Wiedemann). All not to scale.