Eulonchus smaragdinus
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Ordo: Diptera
Familia: Acroceridae
Genus: Eulonchus
Name
Eulonchus smaragdinus Gerstaecker, 1856 – Wikispecies link – Pensoft Profile
- Eulonchus smaragdinus Gerstaecker, 1856: 360.
- Eulonchus smaragdinus pilosus Schlinger, 1960: 418, syn. n.
References
Osten Sacken 1877[1]: 276 (California, notes), 1878[2]: 99 (catalogue); Melander 1902[3]: 181 (California); Aldrich 1905[4]: 221 (catalogue); Kertész 1909[5]: 12 (catalogue); Verrall 1909[6]a: 451 (fig wing); Cole 1919[7]: 34 (key, notes, figs, California); Essig 1926[8]: 559 (descr. note, California); Brunetti 1926[9]: 583 (Uruguay [misidentification]); Sabrosky 1948[10]: 388 (key ref., notes); Schlinger 1953[11]: 220 (LT designation), 1960[12]: 417 (description, distr., figs), 1965[13]: 404 (catalogue), 1987[14]: 320 (host Aptostichus standfordianus); Paramonov 1955[15]: 20 (comparison with Apsona muscaria); Cole 1969[16]: 221 (notes); Poole 1996[17]: 36 (checklist).
Common name
Southern Emerald or Sapphire.
Diagnosis
Proboscis curved and longer than abdomen apex (as long or longer than wing length); ocellar tubercle nearly flat, weakly bifurcated; legs bright yellow; body colour metallic green, blue or purple; thorax covered in yellowish pile.
Redescription
Body length: 8.3–12.9 mm, Wing length: 6.9–12.6 mm. Head. Flagellum red-brown or dark brown, male flagellum cylindrical, shorter than head height; scape and pedicel brown; clypeus elongate, length equal to oral cavity; rounded with flat area dorsally, black-brown, surface glossy, glabrous; labial palp brown or yellow, extending anteriorly beyond proboscis at point of attachment; margin of oral cavity (parafacial) glabrous, admixed with pubescence; proboscis length extending beyond abdomen; ocellar tubercle bifurcate (processes short and rounded), tubercle height shorter than width; median ocellus present or greatly reduced; occiput metallic green-blue or blue, pile densely white or yellow. Thorax. Metallic green, blue or purple, pile white or yellow; coxae brown or black with metallic blue (and green) sheen; femora yellow; tibiae dark yellow; tarsi dark yellow (distal tarsomeres often darker); calypter margin yellow or light brown; calypter membrane transparent; haltere entirely light brown to yellow. Abdomen. Metallic green or blue-violet, vestiture white or yellow, dominant setae appressed or erect, pile posteriorly directed, marginal band of laterally directed pile on T2–4. Male genitalia (Figs 17A, 18A, 19A). Epandrium rectangular, wide at the apex, with posterior margin slightly concave; gonocoxite deeply emarginate along anterior margin, fenestrae lacking; aedeagus thinned at the apex, only slightly sclerotized.
Type material examined
Lectotype male, ZMB, “Californien/ von Müller” [green]; “1251” [white]; “Type” [orange]; “smaragdinus/ Gerst.*” [green]; “Californ. v. Müller” [green]; “LECTOTYPE/ Eulonchus/ smaragdinus/ Gerst./ Designation of. E.I. Schlinger-1952” [blue]; specimen condition: very good, tarsi of both mid legs missing. Body length: 10.0 mm, wing length: 8.6 mm. Paralectotype female, ZMB, “Californien/ von Müller S.” [green]; “Type” [orange]; “PARALECTOTYPE ♀/ Eulonchus smaragdinus/ Gerstaecker/ Det. C.J. Borkent 2015” [yellow]; specimen condition: fair, head crushed, antennae broken off, tarsi of left mid leg and hind right leg missing.
Eulonchus smaragdinus pilosus Schlinger, 1960: 418; Holotype male, USNM, “S Bernadino/ Co. CAL.”[white]; “Coquillet/ Collector” [white]; “Insect Book./ Pl.18 fig 23” [white]; “HOLOTYPE/ Eulonchus/ smaragdinus/ pilosus/ ♂ Schlinger” [orange]; specimen condition: excellent, tarsi of left hind leg missing. Body length: 10.1 mm, Wing length: 9.0 mm.
Other material examined
Listed in Table 3 (Suppl. material 1).
Distribution
(Fig. 20). Nearctic: northern California (USA) to Baja California (Mexico). Erroneous record of Uruguay, see discussion by Schlinger 1960[12].
Ecology
Eulonchus smaragdinus has been recorded visiting the flowers of 11 different plant families and 18 different species (Table 2, Borkent and Schlinger 2008b[18]).
Biology
Host: Aptostichus standfordianus (Euctenizidae) (Schlinger 1987[14]).
Comments
Eulonchus smaragdinus is highly variable in size and colour, and is superficially morphologically similar to Eulonchus sapphirinus, most notably in the bright yellow legs. However, it can be easily distinguished from the latter in having a proboscis that is curved (rather than straight) that extends beyond the abdomen, and is often longer than body. Male genitalic characters otherwise indicate a closer relationship to Eulonchus halli, as suggested by Schlinger (1960)[12] (see Fig. 22). Schlinger (1960)[12] erected the subspecies Eulonchus smaragdinus pilosus due to the lighter coloured pile of the individuals he collected. In our study we found that these lighter individuals were just one end of the colouration spectrum (golden pile changing progressively to white pile when moving north to south) of Eulonchus smaragdinus, and therefore do not recognize it as a distinct subspecies.
Taxon Treatment
- Borkent, C; Gillung, J; Winterton, S; 2016: Jewelled spider flies of North America: a revision and phylogeny of Eulonchus Gerstaecker (Diptera, Acroceridae) ZooKeys, (619): 103-146. doi
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Other References
- ↑ Osten Sacken C (1877) Western Diptera: Descriptions of new genera and species of Diptera from the region west of the Mississippi and especially from California. Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories 3: 189–354. doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.57939
- ↑ Osten Sacken C (1878) Catalogue of the described Diptera of North America. Smithsonian miscellaneous Collections 16, 276 pp.
- ↑ Melander A (1902) Notes on the Acroceridae. Entomological News 13: 178–182.
- ↑ Aldrich J (1905) A catalog of North American Diptera. Smithsonian miscellaneous collections 46, 680 pp.
- ↑ Kertész K (1909) Catalogus Dipterorum hucusque descriptorum. Vol. 4, Oncodidae, Nemestrinidae, Mydaidae, Apioceridae, Asilidae. Museum Nationale Hungaricum, Budapest, 349 pp.
- ↑ Verrall G (1909) Stratiomyidae and succeeding families of the Diptera Brachycera of Great Britain. In: Verrall G (Ed.) British Flies, Vol. 5. Gurney & Jackson, London, 780 pp.
- ↑ Cole F (1919) The dipterous family Cyrtidae in North America. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 45: 1–79
- ↑ Essig E (1926) Insects of Western North America. Macmillan, New York, 1035 pp.
- ↑ Brunetti E (1926) New and little-known Cyrtidae (Diptera). Journal of Natural History Series 9 18: 561–606. doi: 10.1080/00222932608633552
- ↑ Sabrosky C (1948) A further contribution to the classification of the North American spider parasites of the Acroceratidae (Diptera). The American Midland Naturalist Journal 39: 382–430. doi: 10.2307/2421592
- ↑ Schlinger E (1953) A lectotype designation in the genus Eulonchus (Diptera: Acroceridae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 28: 220.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Schlinger E (1960) A review of the genus Eulonchus Gerstaecker. Part I. The species of the smaragdinus group (Diptera: Acroceridae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 53: 416–422. doi: 10.1093/aesa/53.3.416
- ↑ Schlinger E (1965) Acroceridae. A Catalog of the Diptera of America North of Mexico, 403–407.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Schlinger E (1987) The biology of Acroceridae (Diptera): True endoparasitoids of spiders. In: Nentwig W (Ed.) Ecophysiology of Spiders. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 319–327. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-71552-5_24
- ↑ Paramonov S (1955) New Zealand Cyrtidae (Diptera) and the problem of the Pacific island fauna. Pacific Science 9: 16–25.
- ↑ Cole F (1969) The Flies of Western North America. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 693 pp.
- ↑ Poole R (1996) Diptera, Lepidoptera, Siphonaptera. Nomina Insecta Nearctica. A checklist of the insects of North America. Vol. 3. Entomological Information Service, Rockville, 1143 pp.
- ↑ Borkent C, Schlinger E (2008b) Pollen loads and pollen diversity on bodies of Eulonchus tristis (Diptera: Acroceridae): implications for pollination and flower visitation. The Canadian Entomologist 140: 257–264. doi: 10.4039/n07-061
