Tephritis decipiens Rondani, 1871

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 374

Tephritis decipiens Rondani, 1871

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: 1871b: 9 (key), 16 (description).

TYPE LOCALITY: “ in Sibirien, Oberitalien und Spanien ” [Siberia, North Italy and Spain] ( Loew 1862b: 114) [type locality for Tephritis conjunctae Loew, 1844 sensu Loew, 1862 ]; “ in Etruria … in Apennino ditionis Parmensis [ Etruria (= Tuscany) … Parmese Apennines ( Italy)]” (Rondani 1871: 16) [type locality for Tephritis decipiens Rondani, 1871 ].

TYPE MATERIAL: 1 ♂, lectotype (missing right fore-leg, double-mounted: fastened by a micro pin to a polyethylene foam block on a standard insect pin) ( MZUF: Box 31): Tephritis Latr. / decipiens Rnd. , ♂, Etr. [= Etruria (Tuscany) ], Parma / ♂ / 1663 / lectotype ♂ [not designated], Tephritis decipiens Rondani , det. B. Merz, 1992; 1 ♂, paralectotype (missing right fore-leg, double-mounted: fastened by a micro pin to a polyethylene foam block on a standard insect pin) ( MZUF: Box 31): Tephritis Latr. / decipiens Rnd. , ♂, Etr. [= Etruria (Tuscany) ] Parma / 1663; 2 ♀♀, paralectotypes (one double-mounted: fastened by a micro pin to a polyethylene foam block on a standard insect pin) ( MZUF: Box 31): Tephritis Latr. / decipiens Rnd. , ♀, Etrur. [= Etruria (Tuscany) ] / 1663.

CURRENT STATUS: junior synonym of Tephritis neesii (Meigen, 1830) ( Foote 1984: 131) ; junior synonym of Tephritis separata Rondani, 1871 ( White 1986:156, Norrbom et al. 1999: 219).

REMARKS: Rondani (1871b: 16) proposed Tephritis decipiens for a variety of Tephritis conjunctae Loew, 1844 described in Loew (1862b: 114), which he considered a new species. Rondani referred to Loew’s description of Tephritis conjunctae variety (based on males from Siberia, North Italy and Spain) and to an unspecified number of specimens: “ in Etruria raro masculum , et rarissimo foeminam invenit Cl. Haliday, et semel in Apennino ditionis Parmensis mas a me lectus [Mr. Haliday rarely found the male, and even more rarely the female, in Etruria , and once the male was collected by me on the Parmese Apennines]”. Bernard Merz examined the MZUF type material in 1992, adding the label “ lectotype ” under one male, without publishing any lectotype designation (A.L. Norrbom, pers. comm., October 2014). We found four syntypes in this study: all of them in the MZUF. An additional two MNHUB females from Siberia are not included in the type series because of their sex. In order to promote nomenclatural stability, we give credit to B. Merz and here designate as a lectotype for Tephritis decipiens Rondani, 1871 the MZUF male labeled as such by him.