Hippomachus pegasus
Creators: name: Londt, Jason G. H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1983
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Hippomachus
Hippomachus pegasus

description: <i>Hippomachus pegasus</i> (Loew, 1858) Figs 1, 3-7 <i>Trichonotus pegasus</i> Loew, 1858: 365 (also 1860: 165). <i>Neolophonotus (Hippomachus) pegasus;</i> Engel, 1927: 149. <i>Hippomachlls pegasus;</i> Hull, 1962: 521-3. <i>Neolophonotus pegasus;</i> Oldroyd, 1980: 341. <i>H. pegasus</i> was described by Loew (1858) and placed in its own genus <i>Trichonotus.</i> Engel (1927) discovered that <i>Trichonotus</i> was a junior homonym and provided the name <i>Hippomachus</i> as a replacement. He considered, however, that <i>Hippomachus</i> was a subgenus of <i>Neolophonotus.</i> This opinion was obviously not accepted by Hull (1962) who considered it a full genus. Oldroyd (1974) disregarded Hull and repeated Engel's suggestion although with apparent reservation. In 1980 Oldroyd was still undecided as to what to do with <i>pegasus</i> and placed the species under <i>Neolophonotus</i> pending further research. The only other author to mention <i>pegasus</i> was Efflatoun (1934) who recorded it from Egypt. I doubt this record and suggest that his specimen should be considered as a representative of <i>H. mivatus</i> (Walker). Although <i>pegasus</i> has been well described by Loew, Engel and Hull, I provide the following brief redescription for comparative purposes. Redescription: Based on the holotype and two other specimens as listed below. <i>Head:</i> Antenna dark red-brown with dark red-brown bristles and setae (a few white setae dorsally on segments 1 and 2). Mystax mainly white with dark red-brown setae mixed with white ones in dorsal half. Ocellar setae long fine white. Postocular bristles fine seta-like dark red-brown and white, proclinate. <i>Thorax:</i> Mesonotum prominent with well-developed narrow dark red-brown mane which extends along entire length although it is weak posteriorly. Postpro-notal lobes with a good group of fine white setae. Two to three orange notopleural bristles; 1-2 dark red-brown or orange supra-alars; 1 orange postalar. Scutellum with about 8 thin white marginal bristles and a few white setae; disc with numerous white setae. Pleural setae fine long yellowish. Wing: 8,5 x 2,9 mm (holotype). <i>&amp;male;</i> wing dilated, &amp;female; wing undilated, in costal area. Venation (Fig. 1) dark brown. Legs: femora dark red-brown; tibiae orange-brown dorsally (less so on metathoracic legs), dark brown ventrally; tarsi dark red-brown; bristles mostly orange but there are a few dark red-brown ones as well. <i>Abdomen:</i> Terga and sterna with long fine white setae (shorter and dark red-brown mid dorsally); hind margins of terga with fine thin poorly developed seta-like bristles. <i>&amp;male;</i> genitalia as in Figs 3-6. Styli longer than length of gonocoxites in lateral view. &amp;female; segments 7 and 8 shiny black, laterally compressed; segment 8 twice as long as wide in lateral view (Fig. 7). Material examined: 1 <i>&amp;male;</i> holotype, bears no locality data, only four small labels as follows '63', '305', and a green label 'Riksmuseum Stockholm' (NRS). SOUTH AFRICA: <i>Transvaal:</i> 1 <i>&amp;male;,</i> Pietersburg, l 1. ix. 1915, H. K. Munro (NM). BOTSWANA: 1 &amp;female;, Mbomba Island, Moremi Reserve, 20°17'E: 19°11'S, A. Russell-Smith, 12.ix.1977, in sparse <i>Acacia nigrescens</i> woodland on game tracks, sandy soil (NM). Remarks: Loew (1858) gave 'Caffraria (Wahlb)' as the locality data. Wahlberg collected in many parts of the western Transvaal not too far from Pietersburg where one of my specimens was found. I therefore designate Pietersburg as the type locality for <i>pegasus.</i>
description: Published as part of <i>Londt, Jason G. H., 1983, Afrotropical Asilidae (Diptera) 9. The genus Hippomachus Engel, 1927 (Asilinae: Asilini), pp. 441-448 in ANNALS OF THE NATAL MUSEUM 25 (2)</i> on pages 442-444, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8374209
description: {"references": ["LOEW, H. 1858. Bidras till kannedomen om Afrikas Diptera [part). Dfvers. K. VetenskAkad. Forh. Stockh. 14 (1857): 337 - 383.", "ENGEL, E. O. 1927. Notes on some Asilidae of the South African region. Ann. Transv. Mus. 12: 132 - 180.", "HULL, F. M. 1962. Robber Flies of the world. The genera of the family Asilidae. Bull. U. S. natn. Mus. 224 (1): 1 - 430, (2): 431 - 907. ..", "-- 1980. Asilidae. pp. 334 - 373. In: Crosskey, R. W. (ed). Catalogue of the Diptera of the Atrotropical Region. London: Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.)."]}