Tasmanian Phoridae (Diptera) and some additional Australasian species
Author
DISNEY, R. H. L.
text
Journal of Natural History
2003
2003-03-31
37
5
505
639
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222930110096564
journal article
10.1080/00222930110096564
1464-5262
5273495
Megaselia impariseta
Bridarolli, 1937
(figure 25)
Megaselia impariseta
Bridarolli, 1937: 68
.
This species has previously been reported from
New Zealand
and mainland
Australia
(
ACT
,
NSW
). I now report it from
Tasmania
and
Western Australia
. It is somewhat more variable in size than has been previously thought
.
Bridarolli (1937) described the previously unknown male of the
New Zealand
species
M. comparabilis
Schmitz. I
have remounted one of his reported series of
four males
. It is labelled ‘
Megaselia (Aphiochaeta) comparabilis
Schmitz
male,
Nelson
N. Z. 23.V.22 A. Tonnoir cotype’. It has proved to be a female of
M. impariseta
.
Furthermore, it cannot be a cotype of
M. comparabilis
as the date, locality and collector are listed by Bridarolli and not among the listings for the
type
series of Schmitz.
Material
Thirty-five males,
10 females
,
Tasmania
, Hobart, Battery Point,
De Witt Street
, garden,
23–31 December 1991
,
1–11 January 1992
(
R
.
H. L. Disney
—25-4, 7, 34, 39). Male,
Western Australia
, 33°50∞S, 116°23∞E,
9–10 November 1996
(Cindy Brown, 25-12); female, 34°20∞S, 116°10∞E,
14–15 September 1996
(Cindy Brown, 25-10)
.
Natural history
Gravid females had 8–20 nearly mature eggs, the larger specimens having the larger number.