Pales pumicata Meigen 1824
Creators: name: Cerretti, Pierfilippo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Tachinidae
Pales
Pales pumicata

description: Pales pumicata (Meigen, 1824) (Figs 4, 11)
Tachina pumicata Meigen, 1824: 397. Type locality: not given [Europe].
Pales brunicans Robineau­Desvoidy, 1830: 156. Type locality: St. Sauveur [Yonne, France]. Tachina diniele Walker, 1849: 771. Type locality: England [?].
Zenillia speculanda Pandellé, 1895: 338. Type locality: Hautes­Pyénées [France].
Type material. Syntype ɗ of Tachina pumicata: [round card] Meigen / [rear] 2002 / 40 // Phorocera / pumicata / ɗ [MNHN]. [specimen in good condition with 2 reclinate upper orbital setae]. Syntype ɗ of Tachina pumicata: [round card] Meigen / [retro] 2002 / 40 // pumicata / Ψ [sic!] [NHMP]. [actually a male — in good condition]. Holotype ɗ of Tachina diniele: Type Tachina diniele Walk. [round, with green circle] // Holotype [round, with red circle] // England // HOLOTYPE ɗ / OF Tachina / diniele Walk. / examined 1970 / R. W. Crosskey // Pales diniele (Walk) det R. W. Crosskey, 1973 / (?= pumicata Mgn) // Pales / pumicata Meig. / B. Herting det. // BMNH (E) # 239687 [BMNH]. [specimen in good condition].
Additional material. FRANCE — Basses­Alpes, Lurs, 21.VI.1991, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Ailefroide, Torrent de St. Pierre, 10.VIII.1997, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes. 1 km N Ailefroide, 5–6.VIII.1997, Tschorsnig leg., 2 ɗɗ, 1 Ψ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Briançon, Ailefroide, 2.VIII.1985, Tschorsnig leg., 2 ɗɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Dauphiné, Ailefroide, 7.VII.1975, 1 ɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Briançon, Les Aberts, 1.VIII.1985, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Brunissard, 11.VII.1991, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ; ditto 10.VII.1991 1 ɗ; ditto 7.VII.1991 1 ɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Col Izoard Nord 1700 m, 14.VII.1976, 2 ɗɗ (SMNS). Hautes­ Alpes, S of Col de la Pousterle, 9.VIII.1998, Tschorsnig leg., 3 ɗɗ (SMNS). Hautes­ Alpes, E Lauteret 1950 m, 30.VII.1992, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Prorel 2570 m, 30.VII.1992, Tschorsnig leg., 1 Ψ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Queyras, Brunissard, 10.VII.1975, Herting leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS); ditto, 14.VII.1976, Herting leg., 2 ɗɗ, 2 ΨΨ (SMNS); ditto, 31.VII.1985, Tschorsnig leg., 9 ɗɗ, 1 Ψ (SMNS); ditto, 4.VIII.1983, Tschorsnig leg., 2 ɗɗ, 3 ΨΨ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, le Rocher Blanc, 2550 m, 26.VII.1995, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Hautes­Alpes, Val Biaysse, les Mensals, 11.VIII.1998, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Drôme, Saillans, 17.VI.1988, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Roussilon, Umg. Banyuls s. Mer, 10–20. VI.1994, leg. Mittelm. Exkurs. 2 ΨΨ (SMNS). Var, Cavalière, V, 1 ɗ (SMNS). Vaucluse, Lagnes, 9.V.1965, B. Herting leg., 1 ɗ, 1 Ψ (SMNS); ditto, 4.VI.1966, Herting leg., 1 Ψ (SMNS). ITALY (mainland) — Emilia­Romagna, Bologna prov., Borgo Capanne, VIII.1950, 1 ɗ, 1 Ψ (SMNS). Latium, Latina prov., Parco Nazionale del Circeo, Monte Circeo, quarto freddo 30 m a.s.l., 1.IX.2004, P. Cerretti, B. Merz, G. Nardi leg., 1 ɗ (PCCR). Toscana, Firenze prov., Palazzuolo sul Senio 400 m, VIII.1982, 1 ɗ; ditto, 24.IX.1984, 1 ɗ (SMNS). Firenze prov., Quadalto, 450 m, 4.VIII.1998, G. Campadelli leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Toscana, Firenze prov., Valico Paretaio 950 m, 27.VIII.1978, 3 ɗ (SMNS). ITALY (Sicily) — Palermo prov., Bosco della Ficuzza 600–1000 m a.s.l., 31.VII.2003, P. Cerretti, M. Tisato leg. (2 ɗɗ, swept from flowers of Foeniculum vulgare (Apiaceae)) (PCCR). SPAIN — Gerona prov., 3–5 km SE LEscala, 27.V.1998, Tschorsnig leg., 1 Ψ (SMNS). Gerona prov., Port de la Selva, Puig vaquer, 430 m, 31.V.1998, Tschorsnig leg., 3 ɗɗ (SMNS). Gerona prov., E Sant Pere de Rodes, 30–31.V.1994, Tschorsnig leg., 26 ɗɗ, 2 ΨΨ (SMNS). Gerona prov., 2 km W Sant Pere de Rodes, 1.VI.1998 Tschorsnig leg., 2 ɗɗ (SMNS). Granada prov., Prado Llano, 18.VI.1987, Tschorsnig leg., 3 ɗɗ (SMNS). Huesca prov., Puerto de Oroel, 25.VI.1992, Tschorsnig leg., 1 ɗ (SMNS). Huesca prov.,Valle de Ansó, 1 km W Zuriza, 21.VIII.2000, Tschorsnig leg., 3 ɗɗ, 1 Ψ (SMNS). Huesca prov., Valle del Hecho, 6 km S Hecho, 22.VIII.2000, Tschorsnig leg., 1 Ψ (SMNS). Huesca prov., 5 km N Sallent de Gállego, 23.VIII.2000, Tschorsnig leg., 2 ɗɗ, 1 Ψ (SMNS). SWITZERLAND – Genève, Genthod, Frey G. coll. 2 ΨΨ (MHNG). Vaud, la Sarraz, 17.VII.1974, 1 Ψ (SMNS).
Diagnosis. Thorax (except scutellum) black in ground colour; scutellum red on posterior 1/3 or more. Abdomen black (rarely reddish on sides of abdominal tergites 3 and 4), sometimes with bronze or dark blue reflections, covered with more or less dense grey or golden­grey microtrichosity (very dense with shifting spots in the specimens from Sicily). Usually 1 reclinate upper orbital seta (about 20% of the material examined have 2); lateral vertical seta weak, not or slightly differentiated from the postocular setulae. ɗ: postpedicel about 2.2–3.3 times as long as pedicel; parafacial (in lateral view) at its narrowest point 0.43–0.75 times as wide as postpedicel; frons 0.83–1.3 times as wide as an eye in dorsal view; legs entirely black (rarely tibiae dark brown); claws at least as long as tarsomere 5 (fore claws longer than tarsomere 5); cerci short and stout; surstylus shorter than cerci in lateral view (as in Fig. 17). Ψ: postpedicel about 1.7–2.6 times as long as pedicel; lateral vertical setae strong, well differentiated from the postocular row; frons 0.9–1.3 times as wide as an eye in dorsal view.
Distribution. Euro­Mediterranean (cf. Tschorsnig et al. 2004).
Hosts. Unknown.
Remarks. P. pumicata was firstly cited from Sardinia by Martelli and Arru (1958) on the basis of specimens reared from Malacosoma neustria (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) and identified by Prof. Filippo Venturi. My examination of these specimens (FVCP) revealed that they belong to P. pavida. The record of P. pumicata from Sardinia by Richter (1995) is also based on this misidentification.
description: Published as part of Cerretti, Pierfilippo, 2005, Revision of the West Palaearctic species of the genus Pales Robineau­Desvoidy (Diptera: Tachinidae), pp. 1-36 in Zootaxa 885 on pages 29-31, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.170907