Philodieus dubius Ricardo 1921
Creators: name: Londt, J. G. H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1978
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Philodieus
Philodieus dubius

description: <i>Phil odieus dubius</i> Ricardo, 1921 Figs 3, 9 <i>Philodicus dubius</i> Ricardo, 1921: 179; Blasdale, 1957: 139, PI. I, fig. 1 (&amp;male; '), PI. II, fig. 1 (&amp;female;). <i>Philodicus compactus</i> Hull, 1967: 256 --8, fig. 6 (&amp;male; ') syn. n. Blasdale (1957) placed <i>P. dubius</i> in what he calls the <i>aleimoides</i> group of species. This species is easily recognised as it is the largest (wing 17-19,5 mm) species in the group. The thorax is boldly marked in yellow and both light and dark brown. The abdomen is heavily banded. The left clasper and paramere of one of the males available to me has been illustrated (Fig. 3) for comparison with Blasdale's (1957) illustration. The differences observed may be due to different angles of viewing, individual or geographical variation. The tip of the aedeagus (Fig. 9) is trifurcate, each prong being fairly thick and less than half the length of a clasper. Hull (1967) described <i>P. eompaetus</i> from a male (Tugela River) and female (Skukuza) and stated that <i>P. eompaetus</i> is related to <i>P. tenuipes.</i> As Hull's (1967) illustration of the lateral aspect of the male terminalia does not show any of the features used to separate species of <i>Phi/odieus,</i> Dr Danielsson (Zoological Institute, Lund, Sweden) kindly sent me the holotype for study. This male is a typical <i>P. dubius</i> and therefore I regard <i>P. eompaetus</i> as a synonym. The female paratype has not been examined and probably it will prove to be either <i>P. dubius</i> or <i>P. tenuipes.</i> <i>Material studied:</i> BOTSWANA: 2&amp;male;, Mesimaklaba (= Metsimaclaba), V.-L. Kol. Exp., 7-12.111.1930 (N. M.). SOUTH AFRICA: Transvaal, 1 &amp;female;, Kruger National Park, Lower Sabie Camp area, open savanna &amp; riverbanks 9.XII.1972, B &amp; P. Stuckenberg (N. M.). MOZAMBIQUE: 1 &amp;male;, Quendri, B. Lebried (S. A. M.). <i>Type material:</i> SOUTH AFRICA: Natal, 1 &amp;male;, 1 &amp;female; (syntypes), M'Fongosi, Zululand, W. E. Jones, 111.1911 (S.A.M.) (not studied). Types of <i>P. eompaetus</i> are from SOUTH AFRICA: Natal, I &amp;male; holotype, Tugela River, 12 mi., N.W. Bergville, 31.111. 1951, loc. no. 255, Brinck &amp; Rudebeck (E. M.L.); Transvaal, I &amp;female; paratype, Kruger National Park, Skukuza, 29.1 V. 1951 loc. no. 283, Brinck &amp; Rudebeck (E.M. L.). As Ricardo (1921) did not designate a holotype and Blasdale (I 957) did not erect a lectotype I hereby select the M'Fongosi male in the S.A. M., determined by Ricardo, as lectotype and the female as paralectotype. Dr V. B. Whitehead informs me that there are an additional 3 &amp;male; 3 &amp;female; in the S.A.M. bearing the same data as the syntypes. These specimens were apparently not studied by Ricardo. <i>Prey:</i> The Kruger Park female is pinned together with its prey, which is another species of <i>Philodieus (P. tenuipes).</i> Presumably the large size of <i>P. dubius</i> allows it to feed on smaller AsiJidae.
description: Published as part of <i>Londt, J. G. H., 1978, Afrotropical Asilidae (Diptera) 2. * The genus Philodicus Loew, 1848, in southern Africa, pp. 419-428 in ANNALS OF THE NATAL MUSEUM 23 (2)</i> on pages 420-422, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8367253
description: {"references": ["RICARDO, G., 1921. Notes on the Asilinae of the South African and Oriental Regions. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (9) 8 (44): 175 - 192.", "BLASDALE, P., 1957. The Asilidae (Diptera) of the genus Philodicus Loew in the Ethiopian Region. Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (109) 4: 135 - 148.", "HULL, F. M., 1967. Diptera (Brachycera): Asilidae. South African Animal Life 13: 234 - 283."]}