Empis (Xanthempis) testiculata Bezzi 1909
Creators: name: Shamshev, Igor V.
name: Barták, Miroslav
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Empididae
Empis
Empis testiculata

description: Empis (Xanthempis) testiculata Bezzi
Empis testiculata Bezzi, 1909: 92. Type locality: Crete (Greece).
Empis (Xanthempis) testiculata Bezzi: Daugeron 2000: 385, fig. 16 (holotype re-description, male genitalia).
Material examined. ISRAEL: Park Rosh ha´Ayin, 16.iv.1993, A. Freidberg & F. Kaplan (1 ♂, TAUI). TURKEY: Kızılyaka, on flowers, 105 m, 37°01´21´´N 28°26´18´´E, 27.iv.–4.v.2016, Barták & Kubík (1 ♂, ZIN; 9 ♂, 1 ♀, CULSP).
Female (described for the first time). Very similar to male only paler: head yellow, grey colour restricted to dorsal part of frons and occiput (except posterior part); thorax mostly yellow to reddish yellow except broad brown stripe between rows of dorsocentrals (these lay on yellow background except posterior pairs) extending posteriorly over whole of presutural area, brown parts include scutellum and mediotergite and diffuse brownish spots occur laterally between pre-alar and supra-alar areas; pleura with indistinct brownish markings on katepisternum and meron. Abdomen yellow, tergites with median diffuse darkening and lateral brown stripes apparent best on tergites 2–5, last segment and cerci black.
Variability. There are several differences between the holotype re-description and our specimens from Turkey. They may be caused by variability or poor condition of the holotype. Several characters are described here for the first time: head in most specimens yellow, only the occiput (except sometimes posterior part) grey, frons more or less grey (variable), most notably in dorsal half; scape, pedicel and basal half of postpedicel yellow to reddish yellow, more distal parts of antennae including stylus black; ratio of antennal segments (in 0.01 mm scale) = 9: 7: 35: 16; ocellar setae black, about 0.20 mm long; palpus yellow but darkened apically; all parts of prothorax yellow including adjacent areas of notopleuron and mesoscutum, under rows of dorsocentrals more or less apparent narrow yellowish stripe; mesopleuron with dorsal parts of the katepisternum and meron with diffuse yellowish spots, otherwise thorax brownish grey and rather light grey tomentose; antepronotum shallowly bilobate; both fore and hind tibiae mostly with 2–3 larger setae; abdomen including genitalia and venter yellow, tergites with more or less apparent brownish grey diffuse spots medially and with more pronounced brown stripes laterally.
Distribution. Palaearctic: Greece (Crete), Israel, Turkey (Fig. 7).
Remarks. Empis testiculata was known until now after a holotype male taken from Crete. The species is recorded here from Israel and Turkey for the first time. Also, the Empis subgenus Xanthempis is recorded from Israel for the first time. Now, five species of Xanthempis are known from Turkey (Çiftçi & Hasbenli 2007b, 2013).
description: Published as part of Shamshev, Igor V. & Barták, Miroslav, 2019, New and little-known species of Empis (Diptera: Empididae) from Bulgaria, Israel and Turkey, with keys to the Palaearctic Pachymeria and the Mediterranean Xanthempis, pp. 91-100 in Zootaxa 4555 (1) on page 97, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4555.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/2624189