Sphaerophoria bengalensis Macquart, 1842

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 : 51

Sphaerophoria bengalensis Macquart, 1842

( Figs 58–59 )

Sphaerophoria bengalensis Macquart, 1842: 104 .

Examined specimens. 1♂, 1♀, Al-Riyadh , Al-Uyaynah , 45 Km. W. Al-Riyadh, Ashahwan farm, 27.ii.2008, Ashahrany, alfalfa ( KSMA) ; 1♂, Al-Riyadh , Al-Kharj, 80 km. S. Al-Riyadh, 3.iv.1982, A. Talhouk & S. Tilkian ( KSMA) ; 1♂, Al-Riyadh , Al-Wusayl, 45km. N. Al-Riyadh, Al-Mosa farm, 7.xi.2007, Al-Bahrany ( KSMA) ; 1♂, same locality but Ashahwan farm, 27.ii.2008, S. Ashamrany, Alfalfa ( KSMA) ; 1♂, Al-Riyadh , Al-Kharj, 80 km. S. Al-Riyadh, 8.iii.1982, A. Talhouk & S. Tilkian ( KSMA) ; 1♂, 1♀, Al-Riyadh , Dirab Educational Farm of King Saud University, 31.iii.1987 ( KSMA) ; 1♂, same locality but 29.x.1989 ( KSMA) ; 1♂, same locality but 25.xi.1989 ( KSMA) .

Distribution. The species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by Shalaby (1962) as S. menthastri (L.), while Martin (1972) and Abu-Thuraya (1982) recorded it as S. turkmenica Bańkowska, 1964 . It was described from India (Bengale) and is further recorded from the Palaearctic Region: Afghanistan, Iran, Caucasus (North), China, Korea, and Japan, Turkmenistan; Oriental Region: India, Nepal, Pakistan, Punjab ( Peck 1988; Subhan & Shah 2016; Ghorpadé 2009; 2014; Sengupta et al. 2016). In the Arabian Peninsula this species recorded from Oman and UAE ( Smit et al. 2017).

Remarks. Ghorpadé (2009: 11) reported that the descriptions and figures of S. turkmenica in Bańkowska (1964) and Knutson (1973) are identical to S. bengalensis and it was therefore established as being a junior synonym (see also Smit et al. 2017). The adults of S. bengalensis are pollinators while their larvae feed on different species of Aphididae , some Psyllidae and Lepidoptera larvae ( Rojo et al. 2003).

Figures

FIGURE 58–59. Habitus of Sphaerophoria bengalensis Macquart, 1842. 58) Male, dorsal view, 59) Female, dorsal view.