Urophora impicta (Hering 1942)

(Figs. 25–29)

Euribia impicta Hering 1942: 326; Urophora impicta Foote 1984: 127; Korneyev & White 1993: 95; Norrbom et al. 1999: 242.

Urophora hermonis Freidberg 1974: 69; White & Korneyev 1989: 350; 1999: 469; Norrbom et al. 1999: 242, new synonym.

Material examined. Iran: 1♀, East Azerbaijan: Ajabshir, 1788m, 37°33'N, 45°58'E, 09.viii.2010, Gharejedaghi; 1♀, East Azerbaijan: Ajabshir, Huri, 1750m, 37°32'N, 45°50'E, 01.iv.2010, Gharejedaghi; 23♂, 10♀, West Azerbaijan: Ziveh, 10km W Ziveh, swept from Cousinia sp., 2630m, 37°08'N, 44°52'E, 25.vi.2011, Mohamadzade; 4♀, Ziveh, 10km W Ziveh, swept from Cousinia sp., 2630m, 37°08'N, 44°52'E, 18.vi.2014, Mohamadzade; 2♂, 3♀, Qazvin, Taleghan, 5km E Khoznan, swept from Cousinia sp., 2150m, 36°06'N, 50°39'E, 05.vi.2014, Mohamadzade & S. Korneyev; Israel: 4♂, 4♀, Mount Hermon 2000m, 29.v.2000, Korneyev & Kameneva (SIZK and SMNC). Turkmenistan: 2♂, 2♀, Kopetdagh, Chuli, from flower heads of Cousinia eryngioides, 25.iv.1975 (emergence date not given) (l ♀ dissected), Dyakonchuk (SIZK).

Redescription. Head. Length: height: width ratio = 1: 1.33: 1.6. First flagellomere 1.6 times as long as wide. Compound eye 1.2 times as high as long. Gena 1.6 times as high as length of first flagellomere. (Fig. 27). Legs Mostly yellow; in specimens from altitudes above 2000m all femora black basally, but in specimens from lowlands (less than 2000m) legs completely yellow except fore femur with black stripe posterodorsally (Fig. 25). Wing. Hyaline. Distance between crossveins r-m and dm-cu 1.2 times as long as crossvein dm-cu (Fig. 25). Terminalia. Aculeus tip with one pair of distinct preapical steps, distance between apices at the level of preapical steps twice as long as distance between their apices to aculeus tip; apex without notch (Figs. 28–29). Tergite 5 of male as long as three preceding tergites.

Measurements. ♂: BL = 4.5–5.5 mm (average 4.8), WL = 4–4.5 mm (average 4.25); ♀: BL = 8–10 mm (average 9.4) WL = 4.3–5.25mm (average 4.8), AL = 3.4–4.2 mm (average 4), AL/WL = 0.7–0.85 (average 0.74) (n = 10).

Distribution. Russia (Volgograd), Israel, Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan (Freidberg 1974; Norrbom et al. 1999; Korneyev & White 1999; Gharali et al. 2008).

Host plant. Cousinia hermonis Boiss. (Freidberg 1974); C. eryngioides Boiss. (Korneyev & White 2000) .

Discussion. White & Korneyev (1989) and Korneyev & White (1993) redescribed both nominal species based on type or topotypic specimens and noted that they differ only in femora coloration (widely black basally in U. hermonis, yellow with fore femur striped black posterodorsally in U. impicta). Specimens from higher altitudes (more than 2000m) from throughout the range appear have leg color similar to specimens from Israel and appear to be darker morphs of U. impicta, otherwise showing no essential differences. I therefore consider these two names to be synonyms.