A review of genus-group names in Diptera (Insecta) that J. C. Fabricius “ borrowed ” from other dipterists and proposed as new in his systematic works from 1775 to 1805
Author
Michelsen, Verner
Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: vmichelsen @ snm. ku. dk Canadian National Collection of Insects, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K 1 A 0 C 6. E-mail: james. ohara @ agr. gc. ca
Author
O’Hara, James E.
text
Zootaxa
2014
2014-10-14
3873
1
73
81
journal article
5299
10.11646/zootaxa.3873.1.6
4def451e-e1a4-496e-9cfb-6ccb4f6d88a1
1175-5326
4948111
66DDFEA9-E1CE-43C1-B09F-FE8504898312
Scatophaga
Fabricius, 1805
: x, 203.
Type
species:
Musca fimetaria
Linnaeus, 1761
(the 5th of 31 originally included species), by
present designation
. Junior objective synonym of
Psila
Meigen, 1803
(
type
species:
Musca fimetaria
Linnaeus, 1761
),
syn. n.
(
Psilidae
).
Remarks.
Scathophaga
Meigen, 1803
, originally proposed for dung flies (“
Musca merdaria
etc. Fabricius”) of the family
Scathophagidae
, was cited by
Fabricius (1805: 306
, misspelled as
Scatophaga
) under
Musca merdaria
Fabricius, 1794
(=
Musca stercoraria
Linnaeus, 1758
). Other species of the current genus
Scathophaga
Meigen
(e.g.,
scybalaria
Linnaeus, 1758 and
lutaria
Fabricius, 1794
) were also consistently classified in
Musca
Linnaeus, 1758
by
Fabricius (1805)
. However,
Fabricius (1805: 203–210)
proposed a different usage of the name
Scatophaga
for 31 species of mostly testaceous acalyptrate flies with a short, porrect antennal postpedicel. Most of the included species belong to the families
Sciomyzidae
,
Lauxaniidae
and
Ulidiidae
. Species of
Scathophaga
Meigen
are different in having antennae with a longer, deflexed postpedicel. Only a single species (
Musca suilla
Fabricius, 1794
) among the 31 species originally included in
Scatophaga
Fabricius
belongs to the
Scathophagidae
. The identity of that nominal species is treated below.
The different usage of the name
Scatophaga
introduced by
Fabricius (1805)
, which embraces a poorly defined assemblage of mostly acalyptrate flies, has consistently been overlooked (or ignored?) by dipterists up to the present. Adding to the confusion,
Meigen (1826)
adopted Fabricius’s spelling “
Scatophaga
” for his own genus of dung flies without, of course, adopting Fabricius’s usage of the name. This should be categorized as an “incorrect subsequent spelling” of
Scathophaga
Meigen
, even though it may well have been done deliberately.
The present fixation of a
type
species refers
Scatophaga
Fabricius
to the
Psilidae
. Note that
Scatophaga
Fabricius, 1805
and
Scathophaga
Meigen, 1803
are not homonyms according to the
Code
Article 56.2 (one letter difference).