Mallota aenigma Bezzi 1912
Creators: name: Meyer, Marc De
name: Goergen, Georg
name: Midgley, John
name: Jordaens, Kurt
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Syrphidae
Mallota
Mallota aenigma

description: Mallota aenigma Bezzi, 1912
Figs 7, 17, 21, 31, 43, 53
Mallota aenigma Bezzi, 1912: 434.
Differential diagnosis
This species belongs to a group differentiated from other Afrotropical species of Mallota by the distinctly long pilose eyes and dichoptic eyes in both sexes (not confirmed for M. aenigma as the male of this species is unknown). It can be differentiated from M. dasyops and M. glabra sp. nov. by the presence of a tuft of long pile on the clypeus. It is the only species in this group with the metafemur only slightly thickened (medial part at most 2.5 times as broad as apex; in others of this group three times or more). The lower part of the face is also more drawn out compared to the others.
Type material
Holotype
EQUATORIAL GUINEA • ♀; Is. Fernando Poo [= Bioko Island], Moka; Feb. 1902; L. Fea leg.; MCSNG.
Other material examined
KENYA • 1 ♀; Eastern Province, Nyambene Hills, Itieni Forest; 15–27 Nov. 2011; R. Copeland leg.; ICIPE, NMK/ICIPE 210.
MALAWI • 1 ♀; Zomba Plateau, Kuchawe trout farm; 8–11 Nov. 2016; K. Jordaens leg.; RMCA, RMCA AB59313805.
ZIMBABWE • 1 ♀; Chirinda Forest; Oct. 1905; G.A.K. Marshall leg.; NHMUK • 1 ♀; Mt Selinda, Chirinda Forest; 6–8 Feb. 1959; A.C. van Bruggen leg.; SANC.
Description
Body length: 12.0–13.0 mm. Wing length: 8.5–9.3 mm.
Female
HEAD (Fig. 17). Eye with dense medium long whitish pile; dichoptic, ommatidia equal in size. Frons weakly protruding, in lateral view subequal to facial tubercle; ground colour black, dorsally of antennae narrowly yellow; light greyish brown pollinosity, along eye margins more greyish, dorsally of antennae without pollinosity; with long intermixed black and pale brown pile, in ventral and dorsal part predominantly brownish. Face ground colour black, sublateral band from eye margin to oral margin more yellow-brown; with whitish pollinosity, along lateral margins more densely so, facial tubercle and medial part ventral of tubercle non-pollinose; with dispersed long yellow pile along sublateral paler areas, otherwise bare; facial tubercle weakly pronounced. Clypeus with small tuft of long whitish pile (Fig. 21). Antennal segments black-brown, postpedicel black; arista missing in holotype, bare, yellow-brown to dark brown in non-type material; postpedicel longer than wide.
THORAX (Fig. 7). Scutum subshining black; with grey pollinosity; with long pale brown pile, sometimes darker brown pile in parts of posterior third. Scutellum yellow-brown, paler than scutum; with long pale brown pile; anteromedially with pale reddish (holotype) to black pile. Pleura ground colour black; posterior anepisternum, katepisternum and anterior anepimeron with long pale brown pile, otherwise bare.
LEGS. Femora largely black, basally orange-brown, metafemur more extensively orange-brown ventrally and distally; with short to long dense pale yellow pile, metafemur ventrodistally with short black pile. Metafemur (Fig. 31) moderately thickened, in anterior view medial part at most 2.5 times as broad as apex. Pro- and mesotibia predominantly black-brown to orange-brown; with short pale yellow pile; metatibia curved, along anterior and posterior margins with dispersed short black pile. Tarsal segments orange-brown; with short black pile.
WING (Fig. 43). Largely hyaline; most areas microtrichose. Stigmal cross-vein present between distal end of vein Sc and middle of vein R 1. Vein R 4+5 sinuate, without appendix.
ABDOMEN (Fig. 53). Mainly shining black with orange fasciae; tergum 1 pale orange, white pollinose; with long white pile. Tergum 2 with large orange fascia medially occupying about half of entire length, sometimes weakly interrupted in the middle; predominantly short whitish pile except along posterior margin where black; tergum 3 orange fascia occupying anterior third to half, sometimes reduced to pair of narrow maculae along anterior margin; posterior margin narrowly orange; with short whitish pile except in posterior fourth where black; tergum 4 black except along anterior margin and more narrowly posterior margin where orange; with short whitish pile except along posterior margin where black, other terga with short black pile. Sterna dark brown to black; with very long, dispersed whitish pile.
Male
Unknown.
Distribution
Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe. Probably also Cameroon (see Comments).
Comments
Limited material (all female specimens) is available for this species. While the type originates from Equatorial Guinea, the other specimens we have studied are from eastern Africa. They correspond in general characters used for this group with the type; the latter is distinctly larger. Curran (1939b) suspected that the specimen by Bezzi (1915) listed under M. aenigma from southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) belongs to extrema but study of this specimen has shown that it most likely belongs to M. aenigma. Recently, we received images of a specimen of Mallota collected in Cameroon by A. Hlavacek (Prague, Czech Republic). From the images provided, it corresponds with specimens of M. aenigma. The single DNA barcode of M. aenigma showed high interspecific p-distances to other species of Mallota (range p-distances = 5.2–10%) (Fig. 57; Table 2).
description: Published as part of Meyer, Marc De, Goergen, Georg, Midgley, John & Jordaens, Kurt, 2024, On the identity of the Afrotropical species of Mallota Meigen (Diptera: Syrphidae), pp. 242-290 in European Journal of Taxonomy 958 (1) on pages 265-267, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.958.2675, http://zenodo.org/record/13914492