Atherigona (Atherigona) falcata
Creators: name: Deeming, John C.
name: Kirk-Spriggs, Ashley H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Muscidae
Atherigona
Atherigona falcata

description: Atherigona (Atherigona) falcata (Thomson, 1869)
Coenosia falcata Thomson, 1869: 560.
Atherigona nudiseta Malloch, 1923: 186.
Atherigona falcata: Deeming 1975: 2, figs 1, 2; Dike 2003: 219 (distribution); Muller 2015: 870, fig. 23; Deeming 2022: 126.
Previous record: Ongeama (Deeming 1975: 2); Salambala pan, 17°50'00''S, 24°35'58''E; Susuwe, 17°45'37''S, 23°20'55''E; Kwando River, Meander, 17°50'49''S, 23°18'53''E (Deeming 2022: 126).
Material examined: 18♂, Katima Mulilo District, Salambala pan, 17°50'00''S, 24°35'58''E, 23–27.xii.2002, A.H. & M.K. Kirk-Spriggs, Malaise trap sample; 4♂, Katima Mulilo District, Salambala pan, 17°50'00''S, 24°35'58''E, 01–04.iii.2001, A. H. Kirk-Spriggs, Malaise trap sample; 1♂, Kaudom Game Reserve, Leeupan, 15°03'S, 20°38'E, 23.ii.1992, E. Marais & M. Pusch; 1♂, Opuwa District, Ekuja Village, Kunene River, 17°18'30''S, 13°48'56''E, 11–12.x.1999, [A.H.] Kirk-Spriggs, [T.] Pape & [W.] Hauwanga, Malaise trap, riverine forest; 1♂, Opuwa District, Epupa, 35 km E: Kunene River, 17°03'37''S, 13°29'32''E, 09–11.x.1999, [A.H.] Kirk-Spriggs, [T.] Pape & [W.] Hauwanga, Malaise trap, shaded woodland; 1♂, West Caprivi Park, Kwando River, Susuwe, 17°45'37''S, 23°20'55''E, 28.ix–02.x.1996, A. H. Kirk-Spriggs, Malaise trap, dry woodland (all NMNW); 2♂, 4♀, Kwando River, Meander, 17°50'49''S, 23°18'53''E, 05.xii.1999, D.J. Mann, swept from floating vegetation, mainly grasses (all NMWC).
Remarks: One of the males from Susuwe (cited above) has the frontal vitta black, rather than the usual yellow, but in other characters agrees with A. (s. str.) falcata. The only two species known to have two such forms of colouration of the frontal vitta are A. (s. str.) budongoana and A. (s. str.) secrecauda. Pont & Magpayo’s (1995: 54) listing of 22 host-plants in the Australasian and Oriental Regions, coupled with the fact that this species was only first encountered in the Afrotropics in 1970, would indicate that it would have had a different choice of possible host-plants and that this may have brought about such a change in certain specimens. In material of A. (s. str.) falcata there is a striking difference in size, indicating that differing host shoots offer greater or lesser quantities of nutrition for the development of larvae.
Distribution: (Afrotropical): Ethiopia, Namibia and South Africa; (Australasia): Australia and Papua New Guinea; (Oriental): Bangladesh, Bhutan *, China (incl. Hong Kong), India, Indonesia (Sulawesi), Lord Howe Is., Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand *. 1♂ “ Bhutan, Gaylegphu, rice field, 26.x–5.xii.1988, C. Dorji” and 1♂ “N. Thailand, N. Chiang Mai, Erawan Resort, 2300 ft., 23.xi.1985, K. A. Spencer” deposited in NMWC represent new country records.
Host-plants: Pont & Magpayo (1995: 54) listed 21 poaceous host-plant species from India in the Oriental Region, including Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench and Maize, Zea mays L. and a further plant species in Australia.
description: Published as part of Deeming, John C. & Kirk-Spriggs, Ashley H., 2024, A contribution to the knowledge of Namibian Atherigona Rondani (Diptera: Muscidae), with the descriptions of four new species and two new subspecies, pp. 501-535 in Zootaxa 5536 (4) on pages 510-511, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5536.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14239209