Allograpta exotica ( Wiedemann, 1830 )

Ramage, Thibault, Charlat, Sylvain & Mengual, Ximo, 2018, Flower flies (Diptera, Syrphidae) of French Polynesia, with the description of two new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 448, pp. 1-37 : 9

Allograpta exotica ( Wiedemann, 1830)

Syrphus exoticus Wiedemann, 1830: 136 (lectotype: ♂, NMW; type locality: Brazil). Syrphus quadrigemina Thomson, 1869: 500 .

Allograpta fracta Osten Sacken, 1877: 331 .

Allograpta interrupta Enderlein, 1938: 216 .

Allograpta flavibuca Enderlein, 1938: 216 .

Allograpta duplofasciata Enderlein, 1938: 217 .

Allograpta bilineata Enderlein, 1938: 220 .

Allograpta tucumana Enderlein, 1938: 220 .

Allograpta skottsbergi Enderlein, 1938: 663 .

Differential diagnosis

This species differs from the two other species of Allograpta in this paper by having the scutellum entirely yellow and terga 4 and 5 with two longitudinal yellow vittae connected (or not) basomedially with the lateral oblique maculae.

Material examined

Holotype

BRAZIL: ♂, “ Sc. exotica m. // Brasilia . // Mus . r. Berol.”, “ exotica // Coll. Wiedem. ”, “ LECTOTYPE // Syrphus // exotica Wied // Desig.Thompson 19 77 ” [yellow], “ Allograpta // exotica // Det.: X. Mengual 2014” ( NMW).

Geographical distribution

The Americas, from USA south to Argentina, and Hawaii (introduced).

Status in French Polynesia

Doutbful.

References

Fluke 1942: 19 (cit.).

Remarks

This is a widespread species on the American continents, introduced in Hawaii, and not present in French Polynesia. We have included this taxon in our species list because Fluke (1942) mentioned records from the Crocker Expedition in Rikitea ( French Polynesia, Gambier Islands, Mangareva Island). Charles Templeton Crocker (1884–1948) made several expeditions from 1931 to 1938 ( SNAC 2016), but visited French Polynesia only once. Between September 15 th 1934 and April 16 th 1935, the American Museum of Natural History funded a scientific expedition to the South Pacific, including Eastern Polynesia, the so-called Templeton Crocker Pacific Expedition, with the following ports: Marquesas, Tuamotus, Australs, Mangareva, Pitcairn, Easter, Valparaiso, Chinchas and the Galapagos Islands. Van Duzee (1937) gave details on this expedition. Unlike other expeditions ( Curran 1934, 1936), we could not find any report of Diptera collected during the 1934–1935 journey. The interesting part for the present dilemma is that the expedition visited only one island of the Gambier Islands, Mangareva (Rikitea is a small town on Mangareva), to get some fuel before they left towards Pitcairn Island ( Chapin 1935). On the return journey, the expedition visited Easter, Juan Fernandez and the Galapagos Islands, and A. exotica has been reported from Easter Island ( Thompson 2015) and from Juan Fernandez ( Fluke 1955). We strongly believe that A. exotica does not occur in French Polynesia and if a specimen with such a label exists, it is very likely due to mislabelling. Another option is a misidentification of A. nigripilosa by Fluke, although this seems unlikely based on his taxonomic expertise. Consequently, A. exotica is not included in the identification key.