Note The type series of Megaselia mediterranea Schmitz (Diptera: Phoridae) comprises two species release_fqfwmwwt3zfbtdbhqpw2ujqk4i

Abstract

Megaselia mediterranea Schmitz (1935) was described from two males from Palestine, but was subsequently synonymized with M. palaestinensis (Enderlein, 1933) by Schmitz (1941). Megaselia palaestinensis was recently synonymized with M. curtineura (Brues, 1909; Disney, 2010). It is now confirmed that the holotype of M. mediterranea is indeed M. curtineura, but the paratype is its sibling species, M. microcurtineura Disney (1991). This paratype is the first record of the species for Israel. Following is a clarification of the taxonomic status of the two valid species. Megaselia curtineura (Brues, 1909) Aphiochaeta curtineura Brues, 1909: 6. Aphiochaeta insulana Brues, 1911: 542. Aphiochaeta variata Malloch, 1912: 515. Aphiochaeta subfurcata Brunetti, 1912: 508. Obelosia palaestinensis Enderlein, 1933: 208. Megaselia koffleri Schmitz, 1935: 11. Megaselia mediterranea Schmitz, 1935: 15. Megaselia biformis Brues, 1942: 155. Megaselia curtineura is a widely distributed species in warm climates of the Old World, hence the number of synonyms. Its range has undoubtedly been extended by man. The original type series from Manila in the Philippines having been lost, a male from Ma-laysia, Penang, was subsequently designated as the neotype of M. curtineura (Disney, 1991). Schmitz (1941) in a list of species after M. palaestinensis, added: "(Syn. mediter-ranea Schmitz, 1935)" without further comment. When I recently remounted on slides part of the M. palaestinensis type series (from Tel Aviv, Israel), I designated a lectotype and then synonymized M. palaestinensis with M. curtineura (Brues, 1909; Disney, 2011). As this species belongs to a complex of very similar species, I remounted the male paratype (Museum Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK)) of M. mediterranea on a slide. Rather than M. curtineura, it proved to be the very similar Afrotropical M. microcurtineura
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